The English reader is chiefly indebted to the zeal and energy of Sir Woodbine Parish for the materials from which our naturalists have been enabled to re-construct the history of the Megatherium. The remains collected by him were found in the river Salado, which runs through the flat alluvial plains called Pampas to the south of the city of Buenos Ayres. A succession of three unusually dry seasons had lowered the waters to such a degree as to expose part of the pelvis to view, as the skeleton stood upright in the mud forming the bed of the river. Further inquiries led to the discovery of the remains of two other skeletons near the place where the first had been found; and with them an immense shell or carapace was met with, most of the bones associated with which crumbled to pieces on exposure to the air. The osseous structure of this enormous animal, as furnished by Mr. Clift, an eminent anatomist of the day, and under whose superintendence the skeleton was drawn, must have exceeded fourteen feet in length, and upwards of eight feet in height. The deeply shaded parts of the figure show the portions which are deficient in the Madrid skeleton. Cuvier pointed out that the skull very much resembled that of the Sloths, but that the rest of the skeleton bore relationship, partly to the Sloths, and partly to the Anteaters. The large bones, which descend from the zygomatic arch along the cheek-bones, would furnish a powerful means of attaching the motor muscles of the jaws. The anterior part of the muzzle is fully developed, and riddled with holes for the passage of the nerves and vessels which must have been there, not for a trunk, which would have been useless to an animal furnished with a very long neck, but for a snout analogous to that of the Tapir. [Illustration: Fig. 186.--Skeleton of Megatherium foreshortened.] The jaw and dental apparatus cannot be exactly stated, because the number of teeth in the lower jaw is not known. The upper jaw, Professor Owen has shown, contained five molars on each side; and from comparison and analogy with the _Scelidotherium_ it may be conjectured that the _Megatherium_ had four on each side of the lower jaw. Being without incisors or canines, the structure of its eighteen molars proves that it was not carnivorous: they each resemble the composite molars of the Elephant. [Illustration: Fig. 187.--Bones of the pelvis of the Megatherium.]