Lastly, the Toxodon, perhaps one of the
strangest animals ever discovered: in size it equalled an elephant
or megatherium, but the structure of its teeth, as Mr. Owen states,
proves indisputably that it was intimately related to the Gnawers,
the order which, at the present day, includes most of the smallest
quadrupeds: 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.
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