162 



MEGATHERIUM. 



In compliance with the opinion of Mons. Cu- 

 vier, who appears to have accurately examined it, 

 we shall here introduce this curious animal; hi- 

 therto unknown, except from its skeleton, disco- 

 vered in a fossil state, some years ago, in South 

 America; and which, Mr. Cuvier thinks, ap- 

 proaches much nearer to the genus Bradypus or 

 Sloth than to any other yet known. 



Mr. Cuvier's account is as follows : 



" This skeleton is fossil. It was found a hun- 

 dred feet beneath the surface of a sandy soil, in 

 the vicinity of the river of La Plata. It only 

 wants the tail, and some pair-bones, which have 

 been imitated in wood; and the skeleton is now 

 mounted at Madrid. 



" This skeleton is twelve feet (French) long, 

 by six feet in height. The spine is composed of 

 seven cervical, sixteen dorsal, and four lumbar 

 vertebrae: it has consequently sixteen ribs. The 

 sacrum is short : the ossa ilia very broad ; and 

 their plane being almost perpendicular to the 

 spine, they form a very open pelvis. There is no 

 pubis or ischium; at least they are wanting in 

 this skeleton, and there is no mark of their hav- 

 ing existed when the animal was alive. 



** The thigh bones are excessively thick, and 

 the leg bones still more so in proportion. The en- 

 tire sole of the foot bore on the ground in walk- 



