| OCR Text |
Show 1900.] PIECE OF SKIN FROM PATAGONIA. 383 medulla, or at least with the medulla broken up in scattered minute portions. The coarse hair of the Jaguar is also different from that of the problematical piece of skin, in having a thicker cortex and a less developed medulla. Since all the present South- American cats (Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, &c.) have an underfur, it may be assumed that the extinct Jaguar also had such an underfur, the more so as it lived further south in a region with a more inhospitable climate than that of the native country of most South- American cats. If such were the case, this piece of skin cannot have belonged to that extinct cat or to any other allied species. Similarly thespecies of Canis, probably aclose ally of C. magellanicus, may be excluded from comparison, because, like other wolves and foxes, it must have been provided with an underfur. The skin is too thick to have possibly belonged to any of the rodents of which remains have been found in this or other layers of the cave. There thus remain only two kinds of animals of which fragments occur in the same layer as that in which the piece of skin was found, namely Macrauchenia and Onohippidium. The first of these, however, is very sparingly represented in Erland Nordens-kjold's collection, perhaps only by a phalangeal bone, and Dr. Hauthal has not found anything which could be referred to the same animal. Onohippidium, on the other hand, occurs abundantly. This peculiar horse, with its large fossa lachrymalis, which can be seen very well in one of Nordenskjold's specimens, has thus in one way or the other been very often brought into the cave. It seems, therefore, quite probable that the piece of skin now described may have belonged to the now extinct Onohippidium. To determine more precisely the mammal to which this piece of skin belonged, it is necessary to extend comparisons to other animals still living in the neighbourhood. For reasons already mentioned, the Puma, species of Canis, Gruanaeo, and the small rodents are at once excluded. The Viscacha (Lagostomus) has too soft a fur and too thin a skin to be taken into consideration. The characteristic structure of the hair of the deer (Cervus chilensis) makes every comparison with this animal impossible. In the same way, every mammal native to the South-American soil must be rejected. For the sake of completeness, however, the domesticated cattle and horses must also be included in the discussion, although it is extremely improbable that a piece of skin of either of these animals would find its way into the deepest layer of the cave-deposits. I have thus made a comparison of the hair with that of the domesticated ox and horse. The microscopical structure of the hair of cattle is different from that of the supposed Onohippidium. The cortex of the hair of the former is much thicker compared with the medulla than in the latter. At least in Scandinavia, it is also to be noted that the cattle have an underfur of fine hairs without medulla ; and I suppose that the cattle of Patagonia, which run half wild without protection against the roughness of the climate, must be similarly provided. The hair of a horse is coarser and stiffer aud does not show the same |
