THE ANTERIOR LIMBS OF QUADRUPEDS. 43 



the animal creation, that we may rather ap- 

 peal to it as a proof of most exquisite design 

 and forethought. It is as elaborately formed 

 for its appointed mode of life as is the active 

 chamois for the rocks, the antelope for the 

 desert, the mole for its burrow, or the whale 

 for the waters of the ocean ; and as much as 

 they does it enjoy its existence. 



While speaking of the sloth, we may allude 

 to two huge animals, in many respects related 

 to it, though not arboreal in their habits — 

 we mean those extinct animals, the mega- 

 therium and the mylodon, the fossil bones 

 of which occur in superficial strata in South 

 America. A nearly perfect skeleton of the 

 latter adorns the noble museum of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons, London. On the struc- 

 ture of these animals, a profoundly philosophic 

 work has been written by professor Owen. 

 From this able zoologist we learn that a phy- 

 siological review of the skeleton of the mylodon 

 leads to the conclusion, that, as the teeth and 

 jaws were expressly adapted for the comminu- 

 tion of foliage, so the trunk and extremities 

 derived from their apparently iU- assorted pro- 

 portions the reqiusite power of obtaining food 

 by the uprooting of trees. We shall not enter 



