Description of the fossil bones of the Megalonyx, discovered in White Cave, Kentucky / [Richard Harlan].

  • Harlan, Richard, 1796-1843
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of the fossil bones of the Megalonyx, discovered in White Cave, Kentucky / [Richard Harlan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    aspect of the bone, denotes a much more powerful instrument than the same bone of the adult species to which it is allied. Vid. table of dimensions at the end of this paper, and pi. 12. fig. 1 and 2. 2. The second claw or that of the annular finger, is smaller, and proportionably more slender, and bears the same comparison as the first to the annular claw of the M. Jeffersonii, but is a much more inte¬ resting specimen on account of the preservation of the nail itself \ which is of a compact lamellated cor¬ neous structure, of a reddish ferruginous tint, and adheres closely to the bone beneath, and to the osse¬ ous sheath above, which is fractured and removed on the exterior side, and shows the nail passing upwards and backwards as far as the articulating eipiphysis, pi. 12. fig. 3. The inferior or cutting edge of the claw or nail is canaliculate, as in the Bradypas triclacty- his.—At the inferior portion of the claw, the corne¬ ous substance is three tenths of an inch in thickness. On the interior surface the osseous sheath is per¬ fect, and extends above the dorsum of the bone, vid. ph 12. f. 4. This phalanx is much more curv¬ ed than that of the M. Jeff, and differs also in its relative proportions; its height is about one third its length. Vid. table of dimensions. Ml the claws in this species, as well as in those of the M. Jeffersonii, were evidently furnished with osseous sheaths, but are broken in the specimens of the last named species; a fact which could not be so