Memoir On The Megatherium eBook

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Before commencing the description of the skeleton of the Megatherium, now in London, Plate I., which is the most complete that has yet reached Europe, a brief statement may be premised of the chief steps which have led to the restoration of the species (Megatherium Americanum, Cuvier and Blumenbach) to which it belongs.

Cuvier, in communicating to the 'Annales du Museum' (t. v. 1804) a translation of the first memoir on this subject - that, viz. by Garriga and Bru, published at Madrid in 1796, - gives all the requisite details respecting the discovery of the skeleton therein described, and adds his own more important deductions as to its affinities from an examination and comparison of the plates of the Spanish work.