136 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



most minute details on the forms and relative localities of these* 

 different debris. He has taken particular pains to prove the 

 resemblance which they exhibit to the analogous parts of the 

 ant-eaters and bradypi, and has discussed and refuted the 

 opinion of Mr. Jefferson and M. Faujas, who considered the 

 megalonyx as a large carnivorous animal with acerated claws, 

 and probably appertaining to the genus felis. He has particu- 

 larly compared the unguical phalanges of the lion with those of 

 the megalonyx, and shown that their difference is enormous, 

 while between the latter and those of the edentata there is the 

 strongest analogy. 



Some time since, Mr. Clinton, of New York, attempted to 

 prove that the debris of the megalonyx belong to the living 

 species of the large gray bear of America. But he docs not 

 support this opinion by an exact and detailed comparison of 

 these debris with their correspondent parts, the only process 

 from which any just result can be expected. He confines 

 himself to remarking that the bones of the megalonyx are not 

 really fossil, because they have been discovered at a little depth 

 in the loose earth, in some caverns of the United States. That 

 the size of the megalonyx was nearly the same as that of the 

 gray bear ^ (the magnitude of the ox!); and that the last- 

 mentioned animal must have the unguical phalanges ex- 

 tremely robust, to support the enormous claws with which it is 

 provided. 



If the gray bear differed no more from other bears in the 

 conformation of the bones of the extremities, than they differ 

 from each other, which is extremely probable, this opinion of 

 Mr. Clinton's would be totally overturned by a simple compa- 

 rison of these bones with the extremities of the megalonyx. 



To sum up : M. Cuvier approximates the megalonyx to the 

 megatherium, and considers that these two animals must have 

 constituted an intermediate genus between the bradypi and 

 ant-eaters. He considers them both as herbivorous, and the 

 megalonyx especially as herbivorous after the manner of the 



