190 



SKELETON OF THE SLOTH. 



that may be swayed by the blast within its reach, and 

 stretching out its fore-limb, it hooks itself on, and at once 

 transfers itself to what is equivalent to a fresh pasture. 

 f The story of the sloth voluntarily dropping to the ground, 

 ' and crawling under pressure of starvation to another tree, 

 is one of the fabulous excrescences of a credulous and 

 gossiping zoology. 



In the sloth, accordingly (Fig. 40), the fore-lirabs are 

 much elongated, and that less at the expense of the hand 

 than of the arm and forearm. The humerus, 53, is of 



Fig. 40. 



SKELETON OF THE SLOTH. 



unwonted length — is slender and straight ; the radius, 55, 

 and ulna, 54, are of similar proportions — the former 

 straight, the latter so bent as to leave a wide interosseous 



