38 
PEOFESSOE HUXLEY ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE GENUS GLYPTODON. 
teeth, the distal end of the humerus, the radius, two phalanges of the fore foot, “ the 
anchylosed distal extremities of the tibia and fibula, an astragalus, calcaneum, seaphoides, 
cuboides, external cuneiform bone, the three phalanges of the second toe, and the mid- 
dle and distal phalanges of the third and fourth toes, with a few sesamoid bones,” all 
belonging to the left side, are described ; while the tooth and the bones of the leg and 
foot are figured. 
Professor Owen considers that the dental characters “ seem to indicate a transition 
from the Edentata to the pachydermatous Toxodon ,” and sums up his general conclu- 
sions as to the affinities of Glyptodon thus : — 
“ It may be concluded, therefore, that the extinct edentate animal to which belongs 
the fossil tessellated armour described by Weiss, Buckland, and Clift, cannot be called 
an Armadillo, without making use of an exaggerated expression, and still less a species 
of Megatherium ; but that it offers the type of a distinct genus, which was much more 
nearly allied to the Dasypodoid than to the Megatherioid families of Edentata, and most 
probably connected that order of quadrupeds with the heavy coated Rhinoceros of the 
Pachydermatous group” (l. c. p. 96). 
In the same year (1839) Professor D ’Alton proposed for the animal, the remains 
of which he had originally described, the name of Pacliypus ; so that by this time no 
fewer than six names had been applied to mammals all of which are certainly closely 
allied to the Hoplophorus of Lund, whether they are, or are not, generically identical 
with it, and which may therefore be appropriately termed Hoplophoridce. 
In 1845 Professor Owen returned to the Glyptodon question, in the ‘Descriptive and 
illustrated Catalogue of the Fossil Organic Remains of Mammalia, and Aves contained in 
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.’ 
It is here stated (p. 107) that “those specimens of the present genus which were 
presented to the College by Sir Woodbine Parish are from a low marshy place, about 
five feet below the surface, in the bank of a rivulet, near the Rio Matanza, in the 
Partido of Canuelas, about twenty miles to the south of the city of Buenos Ayres.” 
The parts thus found associated are not stated, with the exception of the bones of the 
left hind leg and foot (p. Ill), to have belonged to the same individual. They consist 
of a molar tooth, part of the left ramus of the lower jaw, a fragment of the humerus, 
the left radius, a metacarpal bone and two phalanges, the shaft and distal epiphyses of 
the femur (1), the anchylosed distal ends of the tibia and fibula, and numerous bones 
of the left hind foot. These had already been described and figured in the Geological 
Society’s Transactions. 
As new specimens, there are described and figured an almost, entire carapace of 
Glyptodon clavipes, from the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and many dermal bones, all of 
which are marked “ Purchased,” and appear not to have been accompanied by bones 
of the endoskeleton. Nos. 551, 552, 554, 555, 556, 557 are fragments of carapace, 
all presented by Sir W oodbine Parish, and obtained from the locality mentioned above. 
They are ascribed by Professor Owen to no less than three distinct species, however, 
