3i6 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



The discovery is thus unique in the history of palaeontology, on account 

 of the remarkably fresh state of preservation of all the remains. Some of 

 the new specimens exhibit no indication whatever of having been buried. 

 Many of the bones retain their original whitish colour, apparently without 

 any loss of gelatine ; while both these and other bones, which have 

 evidently been entombed in brownish dust, bear numerous remnants 

 not only of the dried periosteum, but also of shrivelled muscles, ligaments, 

 and cartilages. Very few of the bones are fossilised, in the. ordinary sense 

 of the term. 



An admirable brief description of this collection has already been pub- 

 lished {op. cit.) by Dr. Roth, who was the first to recognise the generic 

 identity of Neoniylodon with Grypotherium. Some of the specimens, how- 

 ever, are worthy of a more detailed examination ; and Dr. Moreno 

 has kindly entrusted them to me for study in connection with the 

 collections in the British Museum and the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 The following notes, supplementing Dr. Roth's original memoir, are 

 the result of this further investigation. 



I. Remains of Grypotherium listai. 



Number of Individuals. 



Among the fragmentary bones of the Ground-Sloth, it is easy to 

 recognise evidence of three individuals, which do not differ much in size. 

 There are three distinct examples of the occiput and fragments of the 

 dentigerous portion of three mandibles. It is also noteworthy that the 

 three malar bones preserved are all different in shape, while three 

 corresponding fragments of the acromial process of the scapula differ in 

 size. One portion of maxilla seems to represent a fourth individual, 

 being probably too small for either of the skulls to which the occiputs 

 belong. Finally, as Dr. Roth has pointed out, one shaft of a humerus, 

 which appears to be the bone of an adult, belongs to a much smaller 

 animal than is indicated by any other specimen in the collection. 



Remains of three individuals are thus recognisable with certainty ; two 

 others can probably be distinguished ; while some of the fragments may 

 even belong to a sixth specimen. It must also be noted that other 

 portions of jaws are said to have been discovered by E. Nordenskjold.* 



* R. Hauthal, op. cit. p. 4. 



