84 Mr. Owen on the Glyptodon clavipes. 



general conclusions respecting them to the facts that they are not remains of the 

 Megatherium, but of a large edentate species more nearly allied to Dasypus. 



Professor D'Alton, at the conclusion of his memoir, alludes to the notice in the 

 Proceedings of the Geological Society of London of the discovery of three skeletons 

 of Megatherium in the province of Buenos Ayres, of which two were associated 

 with the bony armour. This notice refers to the collection of fossils sent to this 

 country by Sir Woodbine Parish ; I need scarcely observe, however, that of the 

 three skeletons alluded to, only one is referrible to the Megatherium, and the parts 

 of this skeleton which were brought to England have been described by Mr. Clift 

 in the memoir already alluded to. No trace of an ossified dermal covering was 

 found with or near this skeleton. Of the other two skeletons which were associated 

 with the bony armour, portions of the armour alone, without bones, of the one, 

 and a few bones without armour of the other, were brought to England ; — the 

 latter bones are described in the present paper. 



The skeleton to which they belonged was discovered at Villanueva, in the bed 

 of a small rivulet, but the greater part of the bones crumbled to pieces on exposure 

 to the air. The only portions which it was possible to preserve were the extremity 

 of a jaw with three alveoli ; part of the scapula, the distal end of the left humerus, 

 the left radius, nearly entire ; two unguial phalanges of the fore-foot; the distal end 

 of the left tibia and fibula, anchylosed together ; the left astragalus, calcaneum, 

 naviculare, cuboides, and external cuneiform bones, including the three middle 

 unguial phalanges of the hind-foot. The shell is described by Sir Woodbine Parish 

 as having been situated about a foot below the principal mass of the bones, the con- 

 cave side uppermost, and resembling the section of a large cask ; it would not, 

 however, bear lifting out of its bed, but broke into small pieces, and crumbled into 

 dust almost immediately. 



The small portion of the skeleton which was brought to England was presented 

 by Sir Woodbine Parish to the College of Surgeons*, together with the magnificent 

 remains of the true Megatherium. Casts of the bones were made by order of the 

 College, and presented, together with casts of the bones of the Megatherium, to 

 different Museums, and amongst the rest to that in the Jardin du Roi at Paris. 

 These casts attracted the attention of M. Laurillard, and Mr. Pentland, who was 

 at that time at Paris. M. Laurillard has alluded to them in the following note ap- 

 pended to the chapter on the Megatherium in the lately published 8vo Edition (1836) 

 of the Ossemens Fossiles. After giving the letter of the Cure Larranaga and Cu- 

 vier's comment on it, Laurillard says, " II serait fort possible que le Megatherium 

 fut en effet reconvert de cuirasses ecailleuses ; cependant il ne faudrait pas se hater 



* These fossils are here described and figured, agreeably with the conditions of their presentation, by- 

 permission of the Museum Committee of the Royal College of Surgeons. 



