rmour, like that of the living armadillo."
(Haeckel, "History of Creation", Vol. I. page 134, London, 1876.)

In a letter to Henslow in 1834 Darwin says: "I have just got scent
of some fossil bones... what they may be I do not know, but if gold or
galloping will get them they shall be mine." ("M.L." I. page 15.)

Darwin also showed his sense of the importance of the discovery of these
bones by his solicitude about their safe arrival and custody. From the
Falkland Isles (March, 1834), he writes to Henslow: "I have been alarmed
by your expression 'cleaning all the bones' as I am afraid the printed
numbers will be lost: the reason I am so anxious they should not be, is,
that a part were found in a gravel with recent shells, but others in a
very different bed. Now with these latter there were bones of an Agouti,
a genus of animals, I believe, peculiar to America, and it would
be curious to prove that some one of the genus co-existed with the
Megatherium: such and many other points depend on the numbers being
carefully preserved." ("Extracts from Letters etc.", pages 13-14.) In
the abstract of the notes read to the Geological Society in 1835, we
read: "In the gravel of Patagonia he (Darwin) also found many bones of
the Megatherium and of five or six other species of quadrupeds, among
which he has detected the bones of a species of Agouti. He also met with
several examples of the polygonal plates, etc." ("Proc. Geol. Soc." Vol.
II. pages 211-212.)

Darwin's own recollections entirely bear out the conclusion that he
fully recognised, WHILE IN SOUTH AMERICA, the wonderful significance
of the resemblances between the extinct and recent mammalian faunas. He
wrote in his "Autobiography": "During the voyage of the 'Beagle' I had
been deeply impressed by discovering in the Pampean formation
great fossil animals covered with armour like that on the existing
armadillos." ("L.L." I. page 82.)

The impression made on Darwin's mind by the discovery of these fossil
bones, was doubtless deepened as, in his progress southward from Brazil
to Patagonia, he found similar species of Edentate animals everywhere
replacing one another among the living forms, while, whenever fossils
occurred, they also were seen to belong to the same remarkable group of
animals. (While Darwin was making these observations in South America,
a similar generalisation to that at which he arrived was being reached,
quite independently and almost simultaneously, with