第57章 ON THE FORMATIONS OF THE PAMPAS(6)

Lastly, and 9thly, in a cliff of the red clayey bed B, there was a double piece, about three feet long and two wide, of the bony armour of a large Dasypoid quadruped, with the two sides pressed nearly close together: as the cliff is now rapidly washing away, this fossil probably was lately much more perfect; from between its doubled-up sides, I extracted the middle and ungual phalanges, united together, of one of the feet, and likewise a separate phalanx: hence one or more of the limbs must have been attached to the dermal case, when it was embedded.Besides these several remains in a distinguishable condition, there were very many single bones: the greater number were embedded in a space 200 yards square.The preponderance of the Edental quadrupeds is remarkable; as is, in contrast with the beds of Monte Hermoso, the absence of Rodents.Most of the bones are now in a soft and friable condition, and, like the shells, do not emit when burnt an animal odour.The decayed state of the bones may be partly owing to their late exposure to the air and tidal-waves.Barnacles, Serpulae, and corallines are attached to many of the bones, but I neglected to observe whether these might not have grown on them since being exposed to the present tidal action (After having packed up my specimens at Bahia Blanca, this point occurred to me, and I noted it; but forgot it on my return, until the remains had been cleaned and oiled: my attention has been lately called to the subject by some remarks by M.d'Orbigny.); but I believe that some of the barnacles must have grown on the Scelidotherium, soon after being deposited, and before being WHOLLY covered up by the gravel.Besides the remains in the condition here described, I found one single fragment of bone very much rolled, and as black as jet, so as perfectly to resemble some of the remains from Monte Hermoso.

Very many of the bones had been broken, abraded, and rolled, before being embedded.Others, even some of those included in the coarsest parts of the the now hard conglomerate, still retain all their minutest prominences perfectly preserved; so that I conclude that they probably were protected by skin, flesh, or ligaments, whilst being covered up.In the case of the Scelidotherium, it is quite certain that the whole skeleton was held together by its ligaments, when deposited in the gravel in which I found it.Some cervical vertebrae and a humerus of corresponding size lay so close together, as did some ribs and the bones of a leg, that I thought that they must originally have belonged to two skeletons, and not have been washed in single; but as remains were here very numerous, I will not lay much stress on these two cases.We have just seen that the armour of the Dasypoid quadruped was certainly embedded together with some of the bones of the feet.

Professor Ehrenberg has examined for me specimens of the finer matter from in contact with these mammiferous remains: he finds in them two Polygastrica, decidedly marine forms; and six Phytolitharia, of which one is probably marine, and the others either of fresh-water or terrestrial origin.("Monatsberichten der Akad.zu Berlin" April 1845.The list consists of:--POLYGASTRICA.

Gallionella sulcata.

Stauroptera aspera? fragm.

PHYTOLITHARIA.

Lithasteriscus tuberculatus.

Lithostylidium Clepsammidium.

Lithostylidium quadratum.

Lithostylidium rude.

Lithostylidium unidentatum.

Spongolithis acicularis.)

Only one of these eight microscopical bodies is common to the nine from Monte Hermoso: but five of them are in common with those from the Pampean mud on the banks of the Parana.The presence of any fresh-water infusoria, considering the aridity of the surrounding country, is here remarkable: the most probable explanation appears to be, that these microscopical organisms were washed out of the adjoining great Pampean formation during its denudation, and afterwards redeposited.

We will now see what conclusions may be drawn from the facts above detailed.It is certain that the gravel-beds and intermediate red mud were deposited within the period, when existing species of Mollusca held to each other nearly the same relative proportions as they do on the present coast.

These beds, from the number of littoral species, must have been accumulated in shallow water; but not, judging from the stratification of the gravel and the layers of marl, on a beach.From the manner in which the red clay fills up furrows in the underlying gravel, and is in some parts itself furrowed by the overlying gravel, whilst in other parts it either insensibly passes into, or alternates with, this upper gravel, we may infer several local changes in the currents, perhaps caused by slight changes, up or down, in the level of the land.By the elevation of these beds, to which period the alluvial mantle with pumice-pebbles, land and sea-shells belongs, the plain of Punta Alta, from twenty to thirty feet in height, was formed.In this neighbourhood there are other and higher sea-formed plains and lines of cliffs in the Pampean formation worn by the denuding action of the waves at different levels.Hence we can easily understand the presence of rounded masses of tosca-rock in this lowest plain; and likewise, as the cliffs at Monte Hermoso with their mammiferous remains stand at a higher level, the presence of the one much-rolled fragment of bone which was as black as jet: possibly some few of the other much-rolled bones may have been similarly derived, though I saw only the one fragment, in the same condition with those from Monte Hermoso.M.d'Orbigny has suggested that all these mammiferous remains may have been washed out of the Pampean formation, and afterwards redeposited together with the recent shells.