Geological Observations on South AmericaDarwin, Charles
Science
Geological Observations on South America
Darwin, Charles
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Geology -- South America; Mollusks, Fossil -- South America; Paleontology
All these shells now live on this coast, and most of them in this same
bay. I was also struck with the fact, that the proportional numbers of
the different kinds appeared to be the same with those now cast up on
the beach: in both cases specimens of Voluta, Crepidula, Venus, and
Trochus are the most abundant. Four or five of the species are the same
with the upraised shells on the Pampas near Buenos Ayres. All the
specimens have a very ancient and bleached appearance, and do not emit,
when heated, an animal odour: some of them are changed throughout into
a white, soft, fibrous substance; others have the space between the
external walls, either hollow, or filled up with crystalline carbonate
of lime. (A Bulinus, mentioned in the Introduction to the “Fossil
Mammalia” in the “Zoology of the Voyage of the ‘Beagle’” has so much
fresher an appearance, than the marine species, that I suspect it must
have fallen amongst the others, and been collected by mistake.)
The remains of the extinct mammiferous animals, from the two gravel
beds have been described by Professor Owen in the “Zoology of the
Voyage of the ‘Beagle’:” they consist of, 1st, one nearly perfect head
and three fragments of heads of the Megatherium Cuvierii; 2nd, a lower
jaw of Megalonyx Jeffersonii; 3rd, lower jaw of Mylodon Darwinii; 4th,
fragments of a head of some gigantic Edental quadruped; 5th, an almost
entire skeleton of the great Scelidotherium leptocephalum, with most of
the bones, including the head, vertebrae, ribs, some of the extremities
to the claw- bone, and even, as remarked by Professor Owen, the
knee-cap, all nearly in their proper relative positions; 6th, fragments
of the jaw and a separate tooth of a Toxodon, belonging either to T.
Platensis, or to a second species lately discovered near Buenos Ayres;
7th, a tooth of Equus curvidens; 8th, tooth of a Pachyderm, closely
allied to Palaeotherium, of which parts of the head have been lately
sent from Buenos Ayres to the British Museum; in all probability this
pachyderm is identical with the Macrauchenia Patagonica from Port S.
Julian, hereafter to be referred to. Lastly, and 9thly, in a cliff of
the red clayey bed B, there was a double piece, about three feet long
and two wide, of the bony armour of a large Dasypoid quadruped, with
the two sides pressed nearly close together: as the cliff is now
rapidly washing away, this fossil probably was lately much more
perfect; from between its doubled-up sides, I extracted the middle and
ungual phalanges, united together, of one of the feet, and likewise a
separate phalanx: hence one or more of the limbs must have been
attached to the dermal case, when it was embedded. Besides these
several remains in a distinguishable condition, there were very many
single bones: the greater number were embedded in a space 200 yards
square. The preponderance of the Edental quadrupeds is remarkable; as
is, in contrast with the beds of Monte Hermoso, the absence of Rodents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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