The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-09-16
ANIMALS REDIscovERED.
and the south American
Ground sloth-

Every one who is solicitous for the
preservation and protection Of vanish
ing bird fauna will hear with interest
of the rediscovery, near Inyercargill, of
Mantelrs notornis. the large, fightless
gallinule of New Zealand. Little more
than so years have elapsed since the
first bones Of this creature were sent to
England, and determined by Prof.
Owen to belong to bird OF the rail fam
ily, of which we have In Britain seven
examples; four Of them-the land-rail,
the waterfall, the coot and the moor
hen - being generally familiar, while
the other three are more or less fire.
quent visitors to our islands. AS the
imperfect skull on which Owen based
his opinion was clearly fossil, II was be-
lieved that the bird was extinct; but
within two years a couple of skins were
sent to England by Walter Mantell, son
of the eminent palaeontologist, and in
1850 the father had the satisfaction OF
bringing before the Geological society
the results OF his sons finds, which are
now to be seen In the bird gallery OF
the Natural History museum.
From these specimens visitors may
see what the notornis was like; while,
in addition to illustrations in Sir Wal
ter Bullens Birds of New Zealand"
which appears to ornithologists, there
have been published figures of the birds
in books intended for the general pub
lie. Unfortunately the bones OF these
two examples were not preserved, so
that our national collection Is without
skeleton, though there is one, the
skull of which is imperfect, In Dresden,
and another in Dunedin museum. The
rediscovery of the bird may perhaps
give rise to hopes, scarcely likely to be
realized, OF the retention Of this form
for some time longer in the New Zea'
land avifauna. From the nature of the
case It seems hardly possible to adopt
measures Of protection for the few
stragglers that may yet survive
though the legislators and scientific
men at the antipodes should be able Il
tuRe sucn measures ms VIII fusuro th'
utilization to the full of all material
that may come to hand.
From South America comes still
stranger news-the confirmation of the
long-rumored discovery Of living rep
resentative of the gigantic ground
sloth. Some years ago collector
named Ramon Lista reported to DIR
Ameghino, Of Buenos Ayres, that HI
had seen and shot at mysterious AMI
nal in the interior OF Santa Cruz. In
the southern portion Of the Argentin,
territory. According to his descrip
ton the animal in size and shape re
sembled a pankolin-the scaly an
eater OF the old world-but was with
out scales and covered with reddish
hair. He was confident that he hat
hit the creature, which was proc
against his bullet, and disappeared IL
the thick brushwood, where long ant
careful search proved Intellectual. Th'
collector was known to be competen
naturalist, good observer and trust
worthy man.
Nevertheless, the tale seemed 50 ex
traordinary that DR.. Ameghino felt sur,
that Lista had been in some wa
mistaken. Yet the correctness o
his observations has now been com
pletely indicated, for some remains o
an animal shot by Indians in Patagoni'
have recently been sent to DR.. Anne
Chino, and these, in his opinion, put tn,
existence Of this creature, hitherto un
known to science, beyond doubt. Th'
skin has no scales, but imbedded in 1
are bony plates comparable to those o
the mylodon, one Of the gigantic
ground sloths which, too bulky to b.
arboreal, procured their food by sup
porting themselves on the hind limb
and tail and tearing down the branche
of trees, The larger forms, whicl
rivaled the elephant in size, became ex
tinct in the Pleistocene period, but il
Tertiary times smaller form seems I,
have existed.
Justice has at last been done to tn
memory Of Lista, who died In exploring
the Pilcomayo, for in naming this i'm
portant find Neomylodon Listai Dr.
Ameghino has at once expressed hi
opinion as to its relationship and com
memorated the only naturalist who hal
seen the animal in the fesh.-Londor
Standard.