50 MEGATHERIUM. 



I can find no authentic evidence tliat the remains of the Megatherium have been 

 discovered in any other localities of North America, than the maritime portion of 

 the state of Georgia, and upon the shores of the Ashley river, in South Carolina. 



Dr. Harlan-^ states that he had found bones of the Megatherium in New Jersey, 

 but as these have never been described nor since seen, it may be suspected that 

 they turned out to be the remains of the Mastodon. 



Dr. R. Haymond has published an account of a tooth discovered in Indiana, which 

 he attributes to the Megalonyx, but the description evidently applies to the molar 

 of an Elephant.^ 



The first authentic notice of the discovery of remains of the Megatherium in 

 North America, was given by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, who described portions of two 

 teeth of the animal from Skiddaway Island, Georgia.® Mr. William Cooper shortly 

 afterwards described a collection of Megatherium remains obtained by Dr. Joseph 

 C. Habersh9,m, from the marshes of Skiddaway. The collection was deposited by 

 Dr. Habersham in the cabinet of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, and 

 Mr. Cooper gives a list of the specimens of which it consists as follows : — 



Four fragments of a lower jaw; fragments of three teeth; three vertebraa; frag- 

 ments of three or four ribs ; distal extremity of a humerus ; two heads of the 

 femur; and a number of other fragments, unsatisfactorily determined.* 



Subsequently Mr. Cooper described some other remains of the MegatJierium 

 obtained by Dr. Habersham, among which, the most important were several frag- 

 ments composing the co-ossified tibia and fibula, and a metacarpal bone.^ The 

 length of the co- ossified bones of the leg was a little over two feet, and the breadth 

 at the middle a little over one foot.® 



Mr. William B. Hodgson, in a " Memoir on the Megatherium, etc.,"^ mentions 

 other remains of the Megatherium discovered in Georgia. In a memorandum con- 

 tributed to the memoir by Dr. Habersham, this gentleman gives the following list, 

 with measurements, of bones of the Megatherium in his possession, and obtained from 

 Skiddaway Island.^ 



Posterior portions of two skulls, of which the more perfect measures ten and a 

 third inches between the external auditory meatuses. 



Six large molar teeth, measuring one inch and four-tenths to one and eight-tenths 

 in their greater diameter, and one inch and three-tenths to one and six-tenths in 

 their smaller diameter. 



A first upper molar tooth; the fragment of a lower jaw; several dorsal vertebrjB; 

 fragments of ribs and of a pelvis ; a broken clavicle ; and a metacarpal bone nine 

 inches long. 



Two heads of the humerus, five and a half inches in diameter, and two distal 

 extremities fourteen inches wide. 



^ Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts, 1828, XIV, 187. = Ibid., XL VI, 294. 



» An. Lye. Nat. Hist., 1824, I, 58. . « Ibid., 114. 



5 Ibid., 1828, II, 26T. « Ibid., 269. 



' New York, 1846. 



^ Skiddaway Island is situated on the coast of Georgia, and according to Mr. Hodgson, consists of 

 a sandy, newer pliocene formation, rising but a few feet above high tide. 



