CHAPTER XII. 
GIANT SLOTHS AND ARMADILLOS, 
“ Injecta monstris terra dolet suis.’’ 
Horace, Odes, book iii. 
It would have been strange, considering how much we owe 
to North America, had the great South American continent not 
enriched our knowledge of past forms of life on the globe. But 
such is not the case. The honours are, as it were, divided, 
although it must be admitted that the North American extinct 
forms at present known are far more numerous. There are, 
however, two or three “ Extinct Monsters ” of very great interest 
which once had a home in South America — in that strange region 
of the Pampas, where the naturalist of the present day finds so 
much to excite his interest. Of these the present chapter treats. 
The Megatherium^ (Cuvier) was a gigantic mammal allied to 
sloths and ant-eaters, and perhaps to the armadillos. In its skull 
and teeth this colossus of the past resembled the sloths, in its 
limbs and backbone it resembled the ant-eaters, while in size it 
surpassed the largest rhinoceros (Plate XVIL). The famous, but 
imperfect, specimen at Madrid w^as for a long time the principal 
if not the only source of information with regard to this extinct 
genus, and for nearly a century it remained unique. 
Later on, however, the zeal and energy of Sir Woodbine 
Parish, his late Majesty’s charge-d' affaires at Buenos Ayres, greatly 
helped to augment the materials for arriving at a just conclusion 
* Greek — megas, great ; therion, beast. 
