USE OF BUSHY TAIL 



ment and as a weapon is arrived at by the exaggeration 

 of one of them, the middle claw ; this has grown at the 

 expense of the rest, and has thus been able with the same 

 available material to reach a larger size and strength 

 than if the material were distributed fairly through the 

 hand. It will be just as well not to investigate in the 

 Zoo the nature and uses of these claws. An individual 

 possessed by the idea that the umbrella of commerce 

 was an implement of use in the study of zoological pro- 

 blems, proceeded to roke out an ant-bear. The ant-bear 

 retaliated, and the result was that there was no evidence 

 on the umbrella, but only in the paws of the bear, that 

 it had ever had a silk cover. The long and bushy tail has 

 a use that was at first scouted as improbable, but is now 

 upheld. During sleep and in stormy weather, Myrme- 

 cophaga winds its tail round its head and body in such 

 a way that they must be protected from the weather. 

 This ant-bear is never arboreal. But South America 

 nourishes two allied genera, viz. Tamandua and Cyclo- 

 Ihurus, which both live in trees. The former is not-un- 

 frequently to be seen at the Zoo. 



THE SLOTH 



An exceedingly dependent animal is the sloth. It 

 lives in a continual state of suspense, as Sidney Smith 

 remarked, like a curate distantly related to a bishop. 

 The same reverend and witty author furthermore added 

 that the uses of a sloth hanging from the branches of a 

 Brazilian forest were not obvious ; but that on the other 

 hand it might be fairly asked, " What was the use of a 

 gentleman in Bond Street ? " We need not now ask 

 such a question concerning the sloth ; there are other 

 and more pressing queries. There is no better instance 

 in the whole animal kingdom of a creature which is 



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