64 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



sand of the ancient alluvion, and sometimes, during very 

 dry seasons, when the waters are low, they appear ele- 

 vated above the surface ; such was the position of those 

 fine and valuable specimens of this fossil animal, re- 

 cently brought to London and presented to the Royal 

 College of Surgeons by Woodbine Parrish, Esq. The 

 inhabitants of a remote district, we are informed, saw 

 the pelvis of the animal appearing above the water, and 

 throwing the lasso drew it on shore, carried it to the 

 authorities of Buenos Ayres, from whom Mr. Parrish 

 obtained it, and subsequently sent some hundred miles 

 into the country, and with great exertions in dredging 

 and turning off the water, succeeded in obtaining the 

 greater portion of the skeleton, including the massive 

 scaly cloak of the animal, with which it was covered 

 somewhat in the manner of the Chlamyphorus and ar- 

 madillo, together with with the caudal vertebrse, neither 

 of which had ever been previously found. The os fe- 

 moris is more than twice the thickness of that of the 

 elephant. The bones of the feet are more than a yard 

 long and twelve inches wide. 



As regards the position of the remains of this animal 

 discovered in North America, we are indebted for all 

 the information we possess on the subject, to the obser- 

 vations of Mr. Wm. Cooper. Vid. Ann. of the Lyceum 

 of New York, vol. i. p. 124. 



" My inquiries have not, as yet, enabled me to give 

 any very precise information respecting the locality of 

 these bones, or the character of the formation in which 

 they were found ; their appearance, however, indicate 



