124 The American Geologist. Feb. 1891 
therefore still very far from complete. The total number of 
bones must have been nearly 250. About two-thirds are conse- 
quently still missing. 
It will be noticed that the list shows onty five out of probably 
50 vertebrae, and no part of either skull or pelvis except the three 
teeth. The second tibia is missing, also one radius and both 
ulnas, besides many of the smaller bones and fifteen out of the 
eighteen teeth. There can be little doubt that some if not most 
of these will be found when the weather permits further search. 
At present the work is suspended, but it will be resumed later. 
The animal's hind legs lay close to the north side of the ditch, 
and would have been missed had it been dug a little farther to 
the south. But on striking the first bone the interest excited led 
to extensive digging, and one after another was brought to light. 
II. TJie ground. 
The ditch is dug through peat to the depth of six feet where a 
layer of shell-marl occurs, and on this or slight^ embedded in it 
lay the skeleton. The plan pursued was to scarp the peat on the 
north side of the ditch down to the marl, and then to probe with 
a rod into the soft upright wall till a bone was struck, when the 
peat was carefully removed or undermined by two of the workmen, 
two others examining with their hands every shovelful that was 
thrown out so that even the smallest bone could scarcely escape 
notice. In this way a hole 20 feet by 15 had been excavated 
down to the surface of the marl. It was found necessary to dig 
down for a short distance into this in order to extricate one or 
two of the bones that seemed to have been pressed into it by their 
weight or by that of the overlying peat. But none of them were 
really buried in it, so that the death of the animal had apparently 
taken place since its formation and near the beginning of the 
accumulation of the peat. To the depth and the nature of the 
material the bones seem to owe their preservation. It is observ- 
able that one or two of them, a claw for example, that occurred 
at a rather higher level were considerably decayed. 
III. Affinities of Megai'onyx. 
Me^alonyx is one of the less known members of the order of 
Edentates, the best known of which are the sloths. This order 
comprises the lowest portion of the Eutherian subtribe of the 
