of the Sloths to their peculiar Mode of Life. 25 
Bradypus tridactylus, which at the end of two months pined and died; it fed 
exclusively on the buds and leaves of a species of Cecropia, a tree having a 
slender stem of thirty or forty feet long, with horizontal branches, hollow in- 
ternally, and naked, except at the extremities; these trees grow only in damp 
places. Mr. Burchell made use of the upper part of the trunk of one of 
them, which is merely a hollow tube, as a case for his barometer; the Sloth 
ate only the young shoots and terminal buds of the unexpanded leaves, re- 
jecting the old leaves, on the boughs which were brought to it daily; it was 
always perfectly silent, and its countenance and manners were most expressive 
of melancholy; it fed by day, and slept much; being kept in a room, it sate 
upright upon its short tail, embracing the legs of a chair with all its legs. 
When wild, it often sleeps in the fork of a tree; it travels along the branches 
with its body downwards. The young cling round the body of the mother: 
see Plate of Bradypus tridactylus, in Prince Maximilian of Neuwied’s Animals 
of Brazil, 1823, livr. 2. 
When resident at Para, near the mouth of the Amazons, Mr. Burchell also 
kept two full-grown Sloths and a young one of a three-toed species (not Bra- 
dypus tridactylus, but of nearly similar form and habits,) in a garden inclosed 
with strong stockades: they were kept tied up to the pillars of a verandah to 
prevent their escape; against these pillars they always placed themselves in an 
erect position, embracing the pillar with all four legs; when not tied to the 
verandah, they got up into trees in the garden; they slept both day and night, 
always fixing their arms round something or other; their food, consisting of 
branches, was brought to them in the verandah; they appeared extremely 
stupid, and would never come to the food; they would eat no leaves but those 
of the Cecropia. 
They did not mount very large trees; they ascended with their breast press- 
ing the trunk of the tree, advancing the hind-leg beyond the fore-leg. On the 
ground they could neither stand nor walk, but lay sprawling on their belly, 
and dragged, or rather warped themselves along, laying hold of a bunch of 
grass or a stone with their three claws, which operated like grappling-irons, or 
rather pincers. All these died in a month or two. In their wild state they are 
seldom seen, from their colour mingling with the grey foliage of the trees, and 
from their being so extremely quiet and slow. 
VOL. XVII. E 
