SUCCESSIVE MAMMALIAN FAUNAS 



217 



beast, as large as a rhinoceros, which, there is some reason to 

 think, was largely aquatic in its habits. The first species of 

 this extraordinary creature was found by Charles Darwin, 

 who says of it: "Perhaps one of the strangest animals ever 

 discovered ; in size it equalled an elephant or megatherium, 



Fig. 121. 



-A Pampean tToxodont (^Toxodon burmeisteri). 

 in the La Plata Museum. 



Restored from a skeleton 



but the structure of its teeth, as Mr. Owen states, proves 

 indisputably that it was intimately related to the Gnawers 

 [i.e. Rodentia] ... in many details it is alUed to the Pachy- 

 dermata : judging from the position of its eyes, ears, and 

 nostrils, it was probably aquatic, Hke the Dugong and Manatee, 

 to which it is also allied." ^ Modern views concerning the 

 relationships of ]Toxodon are very different from those advanced 

 by Darwin, but he gives a vivid picture of its diverse Ukenesses. 

 Neither ^Macrauchenia, ^Typotherium nor jToxodon has been 



'Voyage of a Naturalist, Am. ed., 1891, p. 82. 



