THE SLOTH 249 



being in limb and body apparently a perfect foliar 

 fragment. 



The sloth then is an animal specially formed to dwell 

 nowhere but in luxuriant forests and to feed exclusively 

 on the leaves of trees, young shoots and fruits. Such 

 food is there abundantly and perennially supplied on 

 every side. Therefore it has not the slightest need for 

 rapid motion to obtain it, and it would evidently be an 

 economy, were it enabled to remain permanently in the 

 midst of slich abundance without the necessity of 

 descending to the ground. And this is just what the 

 sloth is enabled to do. He dwells, as it were, in a 

 palace of many chambers, lined with beautiful hangings 

 and many ornaments, all of which are good to eat, 

 and all of which, after being eaten, are replaced as if by 

 magic, to serve later for another repast, and so on with- 

 out limit. 



But to live thus, ever high up amidst the leafy 

 branches of the forest and to dwell there securely by 

 night and day, while being at the same time devoid of 

 the activity of monkeys and other such arboreal beasts, 

 necessitates a special and peculiar structure. . Evidently 

 less call is made upon the vital powers of an animal if it 

 hangs passively, than if it has to hold itself up actively 

 upon the trunk or branches of trees. The whole organi- 

 sation of the sloth is dominated and governed by this 

 need, the need of hanging passively and permanently, 

 without any exertion or effort, from the branches of the 

 trees amidst which it lives. But evidently, again, it is 

 impossible that an animal formed to do this, can at the 

 same time be organised so as to move well and freely on 

 the surface of the ground, for which the stress and 

 leverage must be altogether different. Hence the struc- 

 ture of such a creature must seem very defective to 



