438 Mr. Clift on the Megatherium. 



Villanueva ; the one to the north, the other to the south, of the Salado, but 

 at no great distance from the place where the first had been discovered *. 



In these latter instances the osseous remains were accompanied by an 

 immense shell, or case, portions of which were brought to this country, but 

 most of the bones associated with the shell crumbled to pieces after exposure 

 to the air, and the broken portions preserved have not been sufficiently made 

 out to be at present satisfactorily described. Representations, however^ of 

 parts of the shell in question are given in the plate annexed f. 



It appears remarkable that since the first discovery of bones of so extraor- 

 dinary dimensions as those of the Megatherium, so long a period should have 

 been allowed to elapse without any further efficient attempts having been made 

 to collect the reliques of so gigantic an animal ; especially, since sufficient at- 

 tention had been in the first instance excited by them as to have occasioned 

 the transmission of the large proportion of the bones which now compose 

 the magnificent, though imperfect, skeleton in the Royal Cabinet at Madrid, 

 where it has remained for the last half century altogether unique. 



The jealousies which probably bestrew the path of exploration in a country 

 where the almost all-engrossing subject of search for the precious metals 

 absorbs or blunts all other feelings, together with an apparent indifference in 

 the inhabitants for inquiries of this thriftless nature, offer a combination of 

 obstacles sufficient to account for the little additional light which has during 

 this very long period been elicited. 



On whatever causes it may have depended, further research seems to have 

 been almost entirely neglected. Very few additional specimens appear to 

 have been sent to Europe, and no other cabinet, save the solitary one at 

 Madrid, possessed (as far as I have been able to learn), a single intelligible 

 fragment which could with certainty be assigned to this great unknown;}:. 



* See Plate XLIII. All the bones described in this Memoir were found at the spot marked 1, 

 situated in the southern part of the Map ; fragments of small bones, with small portions of the shell, 

 were found at the spot marked 3 ; and fragments of much larger bones, with larger portions of the 

 shell, including those figured at Plate XLVI., were met with at the spot marked 2. The bones of 

 tlie Madrid specimen were discovered at the spot marked 4, in the north-western part of the Map. 



t Plate XLVI. 



X Some time after this paper was read, a considerable number of interesting fragments of various 

 parts of the skeleton of a Megatherium were transmitted to England from the country of the 

 Pampas by Mr. Darwin ; but the most important of these specimens are in an exceedingly fragile 

 state and are enveloped in an intensely hard concrete of lime and coarse gravel, which will require 

 great care and labour to remove. When that is accomplished, they will very materially add to our 

 present knowledge of the structure of the animal, particularly demonstrating the diminutive size 

 of the brain of this huge creature ; the total absence of fangs to the teeth, whose extremities tenntii- 



