HABITS OF THE SLOTH. 769 



nothing to attract our special notice, except, perhaps, the large propor- 

 tionate size of the distal joints and claws that arm the toes ; but in the 

 Sloths (Bradypus) so unusual is the conformation of the limbs, that it 

 had at one time become quite the fashion for naturalists to bestow a 

 passing expression of sympathy in alluding to these so-called miserable 

 and imperfect members of the animal creation. 



(2211.) "The Sloths," says Cuvier*, " derive their name from their 

 excessive slowness, the result of a structure truly heteroclite, where 

 Nature seems to have wished to amuse herself by producing something 

 imperfect and grotesque. These animals have their fingers joined to- 

 gether by the skin, and only indicated externally by enormous com- 

 pressed and hooked claws, which are bent when in repose towards the 

 palms of the hands or the soles of the feet. The hind feet are articu- 

 lated obliquely with the leg, and only rest upon their external edge : 

 the phalanges of the fingers are articulated by tight hinge -joints, and 

 the proximal ones become consolidated at a certain age with the bones 

 of the metacarpus or metatarsus; even these last become anchylosed 

 with each other for want of use. To this inconvenience in the organi- 

 zation of the extremities may be added one equally great, consequent 

 upon their proportions : the arms and the fore-arms are much longer 

 than the thighs and the legs ; so that, when these creatures walk, they 

 are obliged to drag themselves upon their elbows ; their pelvis, too, is 

 so wide, so much inclined laterally, that they cannot approximate their 

 knees. Their deportment is the natural consequence of such dispropor- 

 tionate structure. They remain upon trees, and never quit one till they 

 have stripped it of its leaves, so difficult is it for them to get to another ; 

 nay, it is even asserted that they let themselves fall from their branch 

 to avoid the trouble of crawling down." 



(2212.) Well may humanity pause before it ventures to accuse 

 Nature of having " wished to amuse herself by producing something 

 imperfect and grotesque ; " and we should not have inflicted upon our- 

 selves the task of quoting so painful a passage, did it not emanate from 

 such a source, and had not ample opportunities of observation shown that 

 the very structure so accurately described by Cuvier is better adapted 

 than any other to the arboreal life for which the Sloth is destined. It 

 is not upon the ground, but in the tree, that this animal must be criti- 

 cised ; and there, as we learn, among its native branches, hanging se- 

 curely by means of its hooked toes and peculiarly- organized hind legs, 

 it feeds in situations which otherwise would be left unoccupied ; or, 

 using its long arms, it swings from bough to bough, with a facility 

 little to be expected from its appearance. 



(2213.) The herbage that covers the plain, or the foliage of the trees, 

 are not, however, the only vegetable materials that have been made 

 available for the support of Mammiferous quadrupeds. The ROPENTIA 

 * Eegne Animal, vol. i. p. 223 et seq. 



3D 



