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Again, fifteen degrees of latitude northward, in Colombia, there is a grand fossiliferous deposit, now well known from the labours of Von Buch, Lea, d'Orbigny, and Forbes, which belongs to the earlier stages of the cretaceous system.
The case of the Mastodon Andium is one of more difficulty, for it is found from latitude 36 degrees S., over, as I have reason to believe, nearly the whole of Brazil, and up the Cordillera to regions which, according to M. d'Orbigny, border on perpetual snow, and which are almost destitute of vegetation: undoubtedly the climate of the Cordillera must have been different when the mastodon inhabited it; but we should not forget the case of the Siberian mammoth and rhinoceros, as showing how severe a climate the larger pachydermata can endure; nor overlook the fact of the guanaco ranging at the present day over the hot low deserts of Peru, the lofty pinnacles of the Cordillera, and the damp forest-clad land of Southern Tierra del Fuego; the puma, also, is found from the equator to the Strait of Magellan, and I have seen its footsteps only a little below the limits of perpetual snow in the Cordillera of Chile.
At the distance of half a mile, the vertical piles of pot-stones were much farther apart from each other. Dr. Buckland has described very similar phenomena as characterising the white chalk on the north coast of Antrim, in Ireland. Ventriculites radiatus, Mantell. Syn. Ocellaria radiata. D'Orbigny.
On the wide uninhabited plains of Patagonia another closely allied species, O. Patagonica of d'Orbigny, which frequents the valleys clothed with spiny bushes, is a wilder bird, and has a slightly different tone of voice.
M. A. d'Orbigny has given nearly a similar account of these dogs, tom. i. p. 175. I must express my obligations to Mr. Keane, at whose house I was staying on the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lumb at Buenos Ayres, for without their assistance these valuable remains would never have reached England. Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. iii. p. 63.
M. Alcide d'Orbigny, during the years 1825 to 1833, traversed several large portions of South America, and has made a collection, and is now publishing the results on a scale of magnificence, which at once places himself in the list of American travellers second only to Humboldt. Account of the Abipones, A.D. 1749, vol. i. M. Bibron calls it T. crepitans.
"I believe," said Madaine d'Orbigny, in a most disinterested manner, "I believe he wishes not only to give me all the law allows but oh! hold, I beg you, let us not speak of this!" "What shall we speak of?" "Alas! you are right, relentless man; we must return to the sad subject which brought me here.
Hence M. D'Orbigny and Von Buch, under different terms, compare these fossils to those from the same late stage in the secondary formations of Europe.
Madame D'Orbigny was a slender blonde, with eyebrows nearly white, and pale blue eyes, almost round; her speech honeyed, her look hypocritical, her manners insinuating and insidious. "What a charming young man is the Viscount de Saint Remy!" said she to Jacques Ferrand, when the viscount had gone. "Charming; but, madame, let us talk of business.
Caldcleugh's travels, however, I should have thought that it had extended, south of the Cordovese range, to near Mendoza, and I may add that I heard of great bones having been found high up the R. Quinto. Hence the area of the Pampean formation, as remarked by M. d'Orbigny, is probably at least equal to that of France, and perhaps twice or thrice as great.
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