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.
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.