THE COMMON SLOTH. 165 



Section I. LEAF-EATERS. 

 Family— SLOTHS 



( Tardigrada, Owen ; Bradypolidce, Auct.)- 



Genus Bradijpus, Linn. (Acheiis, F. Cuv.) — Claws on the 

 fore-feet, three. 



The Common Sloth, or Ai 

 {Bradypus tridactijlus, Linn.), 



The Sloths are creatures as extraordinary in their 

 habits as in their organization, the one having a mutual 

 relationship to the otlier. They are exclusively arbo- 

 real ; the trees afford them at once their needful food 

 and their permanent abiding-place : and for the trees 

 alone are they structurally adapted. It is not long since 

 that the sloth was condemned as a degraded miserable 

 being, slow and embarrassed in all its movements, and 

 wretchedly framed, as if Nature had bungled in its crea- 

 tion. Inconsistent with philosophy, and presumptuous 

 in the extreme, is such an opinion. The tall giraffe and 

 the sinewy-limbed antelope are not more directly organ- 

 ized for their respective requirements than is the sloth 

 for its appointed place in the scale of creation. Were 

 it a terrestrial animal, then indeed might we call its 

 structure defective ; but, its mode of life taken into con- 

 sideration, we view it in another light, and perceive 

 that it affords a marked example of design and })urpose. 



Buffbn's eloquent misrepresentation of the sloth need 

 not detain us, but we cannot avoid expressing our sur- 

 prise that the great Cuvier not only quotes the words of 

 that naturalist, but even follows up his ideas. The only 

 excuse is, that the habits of the animals till recently were 

 very imperfectly understood ; yet might we not expect 

 that a philosopher would pause before concluding that 

 in the works of nature there occurred exceptions to the 

 laws of harmony by which the whole is governed ? 



A few observations on the organization of the sloth 

 may not be unacceptable. 



Fig. 101 represents the skeleton of the common three- 



