GIANT SLOTHS AND ARMADILLOS 285 
distance from the place where the first had been found. It 
was in the year 1832 that Sir Woodbine Parish sent his valuable 
collection of bones from Buenos Ayres, and presented them to 
the Royal College of Surgeons. These specimens formed the 
subject of Mr. Clift’s memoir above quoted. But even then the 
materials were not complete for a thorough knowledge of the bony 
framework of the Megatherium, and it was not till 1845, when 
more remains (discovered near Luxan, 1837) reached this country, 
that Sir Richard Owen was able to clear up one or two doubtful 
details. These were purchased by the trustees of the British 
Museum, and casts of the bones were taken. Among the various 
writings by learned men on the subject, Owen’s masterly descrip- 
tion stands pre-eminent ; indeed, he was the only one to solve 
the riddle, to thoroughly explain the structure of this giant sloth, 
and to show how its food was obtained.^ Neither Cuvier, nor the 
German doctors, nor Mr. Clift had succeeded in so doing. 
In the Natural History Museum is a cast representing the 
animal nearly erect, and grasping a tree. This magnificent cast 
(see Plate L.) represents an animal eighteen feet in length, 
and its bones are more massive than those of the elephant. For 
instance, the thigh-bone is nearly thrice the thickness of the same 
bone in the largest of existing elephants, the circumference being 
equal to the entire length. To a comparative anatomist several 
striking indications of great strength present themselves ; thus, 
not only the very forms of the bones themselves mean strength, 
but their surfaces, ridges, and crests are everywhere made rough 
for the firm attachment of powerful muscles and tendons. In 
the fore part of the body the skeleton is comjparatimly slender, 
1 His views are expounded in his Memoir on the Megatherium, or Giant 
Ground Sloth of America, 1861, which is beautifully illustrated. The Royal 
Society gave £100 (part of a Government grant of £1000) to enable Professor 
Owen to carry out this important work. 
