182 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
to them, and tore up the smaller ones by the roots, and so fed on 
the leaves. The colossal breadth and weight of their hinder 
quarters, which can hardly be imagined without having been 
seen, become, on this view, of obvious service instead of being 
an encumbrance; their apparent clumsiness disappears. With 
their great tails and huge heels firmly fixed like a tripod in the 
ground, they could freely exert the full force of their most 
powerful arms and great claws.” * 
To this we may add Dean Buckland’s description,? “ His 
entire frame was an apparatus of colossal mechanism, adapted 
exactly to the work it had to do; strong and ponderous in pro- 
portion as this work was heavy, and calculated to be the vehicle 
of life and enjoyment to a gigantic race of quadrupeds, which, 
though they have ceased to be counted among the living inhabi- 
tants of our planet, have, in their fossil bones, left behind them 
imperishable monuments of the consummate skill with which they 
were constructed. Each limb and fragment of a limb form co- 
ordinate parts of a well-adjusted and perfect whole.” 
After reading these descriptions, it is not difficult to form a 
mental picture of the great beast laying siege to a tree, and to 
conceive the massive frame of the Megatherium convulsed with 
the mighty wrestling, every vibrating fibre reacting upon its bony 
attachment with the force of a hundred giants; extraordinary 
must be the strength and proportions of the tree if, when rocked 
to and fro, to. right and left, in such an embrace, it can long 
withstand the efforts of its assailant. It yields, the roots fly up, 
the earth is scattered wide upon the surrounding foliage, and the 
tree comes down with a thundering crash, cracking and snapping 
the great boughs like glass. Then the coveted food is within 
reach, and the giant reaps the reward of his Herculean labours. 
Sir Woodbine Parish thought that the Megatherium fed on the 
Agave, or American aloe. 
Another form of extinct sloth found in the same region is the 
1 Journal of Researches. * Bridgewater Treatise. 
