162 
MEGATHERIUM. 
In compliance with the opinion of Mons, Cu- 
vier, \yho 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 Avood; 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 rib^. 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 ho 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- 
