EDENTATA. 301 



of this genus (A. prisciim) have been found in deposits which 

 are believed to be of Eocene age. More thoroughly known, 

 however, is the Ancylothcrium Pcntelici of the Miocene •*■ de- 

 posits of Pikermi in Greece. Tliis singular form was of 

 gigantic dimensions, and the structure of the feet was much 

 the same as in Macrothcrimn ; but the hind-limbs nearly 

 equalled the fore-limbs in length, and the animal must have 

 been terrestrial in its habits. 



The forms already alluded to are the only Edentates which 

 have hitherto been discovered in the European area, and they 

 belong to types which cannot be paralleled precisely with 

 any at present in existence. In the Western hemisphere 

 the first traces of Edentates detected up to this time date 

 from the Miocene Tertiary. In beds of this age on the 

 Pacific coast of North America, have been found the remains 

 of two species of gigantic Edentates, which have been re- 

 ferred to the genus Moroiyus. Another species of the same 

 genus occurs in the Lower Pliocene of Nebraska ; and the 

 genus itself is regarded as the type of a peculiar family of 

 Edentates, to which the name of Morofodiclm has been given. 

 In the Lower Pliocene of Idaho and California there have 

 also been found remains of another extinct genus — Moro- 

 tJierium — comprising large Edentates, which seem to be early 

 representatives of the wonderful American family of the 

 " Gravigrade " Sloths, to be spoken of immediately. 



It is, however, in the late Pliocene, and more particularly 

 the Post-Pliocene, deposits of the New World that we find 

 proofs of the past existence of the most numerous and re- 

 markable of the fossil Edentata — many of these being refer- 

 able to families now existing in the same area. The most 

 remarkable of the extinct types in question belong to the 

 great group of the " Ground-sloths " or " Gravigrade " Eden- 

 tates, which have no direct representatives at the present 

 day, though they have many points of affinity to the living 

 group of the Sloths {Bradypodidoi) of South America. The 

 latter are entirely arboreal in their habits, and are not only 

 adapted for a life of climbing, but are all comparatively small 



1 The Pikermi deposits are believed by some palseoiitologists to be properly 

 referable to the Pliocene. 



