In Many Details It Is Allied To The Pachydermata:
Judging From The Position Of Its Eyes, Ears, And Nostrils,
It Was Probably Aquatic, Like The Dugong And Manatee,
To Which It Is Also Allied.
How wonderfully are the different
Orders, at the present time so well separated, blended together
in different points of the structure of the Toxodon!
The remains of these nine great quadrupeds, and many
detached bones, were found embedded on the beach, within
the space of about 200 yards square. It is a remarkable
circumstance that so many different species should be found
together; and it proves how numerous in kind the ancient
inhabitants of this country must have been. At the distance
of about thirty miles from Punta Alta, in a cliff of red earth,
I found several fragments of bones, some of large size.
Among them were the teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size
and closely resembling those of the Capybara, whose habits
have been described; and therefore, probably, an aquatic
animal. There was also part of the head of a Ctenomys; the
species being different from the Tucutuco, but with a close
general resemblance. The red earth, like that of the Pampas,
in which these remains were embedded, contains, according
to Professor Ehrenberg, eight fresh-water and one salt-water
infusorial animalcule; therefore, probably, it was an estuary
deposit.
The remains at Punta Alta were embedded in stratified
gravel and reddish mud, just such as the sea might now wash
up on a shallow bank.
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