EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



No. 4. Villanueva. The bones found at this spot, dug out of the bed of a small rivulet, 

 were of small size, and in a very fragile state, and crumbled to pieces on exposure to 

 the air. Part of a jaw with one very small though nearly perfect tooth in the socket, 

 part of a scapula, and some of the feet-bones were all that were capable of being pre- 

 served. The shell lay about a foot below the principal mass of the bones, the concave 

 side uppermost, and resembled the section of a large cask ; but would not bear to be 

 lifted out of its bed, broke into small pieces, and crumbled to dust almost imme- 

 diately. 



Plate XLIV. 



An outline traced from Plate L of Messrs. Pander and D' Alton's work above' mentioned, 

 with the intention of showing all the parts hitherto known, or supposed to be known, 

 of this extraordinary animal, the Megatherium. 



The simple outline represents the state of the skeleton, as now articulated, in the 

 Royal Cabinet of Natural History at Madrid. Whether properly or improperly 

 mounted, i. e. whether all the parts are of one or more individuals, whether they 

 belong to the situation or position in which they are placed, whether all the parts 

 are genuine or partly modelled, or whether parts are eked out by bones that do not 

 belong to the part or situation in which they are now located, does not interfere with 

 the object of the outline in this Diagram ; no blame being intended to be attributed 

 to the Articulator, who, probably, had little or no guide in such a difficult task. 

 Upon this outline are engraved up, but in ajaint degree, 1st, those parts which have 

 been collected and preserved by Mr. Parish that also exist in the Madrid Skeleton ; 

 2ndly, in a greater degree of stre7igth, those parts which are preserved in the series 

 of Bones described in this paper which are deficient in the Skeleton at Madrid; thus 

 endeavouring to show at one view the general tenour of the Skeleton, together with 

 all the important points hitherto determined. 



Plate XLV. 



Fig. 1. represents, of the natural size, the last phalanx of a toe belonging to one of the 

 fore feet. This has been selected as one of the smallest bones, capable of being re- 

 presented on a quarto plate, that could in any degree give a just notion of the mag- 

 nitude of the creature to which it appertained ; and by comparison with the same 

 bone ill situ in Plate XLIV, it cannot fail of answering that intention better than 

 the most correct description, or minute detail of admeasurement. 



Fig. 2. represents, also of the natural dimension, a molar tooth or grinder, of which class 

 all the teeth of the animal consist. This tooth was selected as one of the largest and 

 most entire among those discovered ; but although imperfect as regards its entire 

 length (of which it is about two inches minus at its lower extremity, a fact deter- 

 mined by other specimens, less perfect in other respects), it shows more of its real 

 form and structure than a perfect example could have permitted from any one point 

 of view. This figure shows the inclination of the four facets of which the grinding 



