570 



CENOZOIC TIME. 



North American, M. Earlani, has been found both east and west of the Mississippi, 

 and in Oregon. 



Fig. 952. 



Claw of Megalonyx Jeffersonii, nat. size. 



A fourth allied genus is Scelidotherium, of which seven South American species have 

 been made out, — one as large as the Megalonyx. 



Of the Armadillo (or Dasypus) group, the genus Glyptodon (Fig. 

 953) contained several gigantic species. These animals had a shell 

 something like that of a Turtle. In the G. clavipes Owen, the length 

 of the shell, measuring along the curve, was five feet, and the total 



Fig. 953. 



Glyptodon clavipes (X -o 1 — )• 

 3 



length of the animal, to the extremity of the tail, nine feet. The 

 genus Chlamydotherium, included other mail-clad species, one of which 

 was as large as a Rhinoceros ; and the genus Pachytherium, others, 

 of the size of an Ox. 



Such were the characteristic animals of Quaternary South America. 

 The largest Edentates of the existing period are but three or four feet 

 in length. The Megatherium probably exceeded more than one hun- 

 dred fold the bulk of any living Edentate. 



5. Australia In Australia, the living species are almost exclu- 

 sively Marsupials. They were Marsupials also in the Quaternary, but 



