Of the remains of the Mylodon, and of that strange semi-aquatic creature the Toxodon, he says, they appeared so fresh that it was difficult to believe they had lain buried for ages under ground. The bones were so fresh, that they yielded, on careful analysis, seven per cent. of animal matter, and when heated in the flame of a spirit-lamp, they not only exhaled a very strong animal odour, but actually burned with a small flame. Mr Darwin's interest was excited by the evidences everywhere present of the immensity of this extinct population. "The number of the remains imbedded in the great estuary-deposit which forms the Pampas, and covers the gigantic rocks of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would cut through some skeleton or bones.... We may suppose that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds."[15] The whole plain of South America from the Rio Plata to the Straits of Magellan has been raised from the sea within the species-life of the existing sea-shells, the old and weathered specimens of which, left on the surface of the plain, still partially retain their colours! Darwin infers, as certain, from data which he has adduced, that the Macrauchen, that strange giraffe-necked pachyderm, lived _long after_ the sea was inhabited by its present shells, and when the vegetation of the land could not have been other than it is now. And if the Macrauchen, then the Toxodon, the Scelidothere, the Megathere, the Mylodon, the Glyptodon, the Glossothere, and all the rest of the quaint but mighty host of gone giants, that once thronged these austral plains. Evidence for the recent existence of the colossal ostrich-like birds of New Zealand is stronger still. It is about twenty-one years since the first intimation was given to scientific Europe of the remains of such animals, through some bones sent by the Rev. W. Williams to Dr Buckland. From these, and a collection soon afterwards sent home, Professor Owen established the genus _Dinornis_, identifying five species, the largest of which, _D. giganteus_, he concluded to have stood about ten feet in height. The remains have since been obtained in great profusion, and the result of further investigations by the Professor has been the establishment of three other genera, viz., _Palapteryx_, _Nestor_, and _Notornis_,--the latter a large bird allied to the Rails and Coots.