llock is. The famed country of the Rio Plata in my
opinion is not much better: an enormous brackish river, bounded by an
interminable green plain is enough to make any naturalist groan. So
Hurrah for Cape Horn and the Land of Storms. Now that I have had my
growl out, which is a privilege sailors take on all occasions, I will
turn the tables and give an account of my doing in Nat. History. I must
have one more growl: by ill luck the French Government has sent one of
its collectors to the Rio Negro, where he has been working for the last
six months, and is now gone round the Horn. So that I am very selfishly
afraid he will get the cream of all the good things before me. As I
have nobody to talk to about my luck and ill luck in collecting, I am
determined to vent it all upon you. I have been very lucky with fossil
bones; I have fragments of at least 6 distinct animals: as many of them
are teeth, I trust, shattered and rolled as they have been, they will
be recognised. I have paid all the attention I am capable of to their
geological site; but of course it is too long a story for here. 1st, I
have the tarsi and metatarsi very perfect of a Cavia; 2nd, the upper jaw
and head of some very large animal with four square hollow molars and
the head greatly protruded in front. I at first thought it belonged
either to the Megalonyx or Megatherium (4/1). The animal may probably
have been Grypotherium Darwini, Ow. The osseous plates mentioned below
must have belonged to one of the Glyptodontidae, and not to Megatherium.
We are indebted to Mr. Kerr for calling our attention to a passage in
Buckland's "Bridgewater Treatise" (Volume II., page 20, note), where
bony armour is ascribed to Megatherium.); in confirmation of this in the
same formation I found a large surface of the osseous polygonal
plates, which "late observations" (what are they?) show belong to the
Megatherium. Immediately I saw this I thought they must belong to an
enormous armadillo, living species of which genus are so abundant here.
3rd, The lower jaw of some large animal which, from the molar teeth, I
should think belonged to the Edentata; 4th, some large molar teeth which
in some respects would seem to belong to an enormous rodent; 5th, also
some smaller teeth belonging to the same order. If it interests you
sufficiently to unpack them, I shall be very curious to hear something
about them. Care must be taken in this case not to confuse the tallies.
They are mingled with