1 82 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



to them, and tore up the smaller ones by the roots, and so fed on 

 the leaves. The colossal breadth and weight of their hinder 

 quarters, which can hardly be imagined without having been 

 seen, become, on this view, of obvious service instead of being 

 an encumbrance ; their apparent clumsiness disappears. With 

 their great tails and huge heels firmly fixed like a tripod in the 

 ground, they could freely exert the full force of their most 

 powerful arms and great claws." 1 



To this we may add Dean Buckland's description, 2 " His 

 entire frame was an apparatus of colossal mechanism, adapted 

 exactly to the work it had to do ; strong and ponderous in pro- 

 portion as this work was heavy, and calculated to be the vehicle 

 of life and enjoyment to a gigantic race of quadrupeds, which, 

 though they have ceased to be counted among the living inhabi- 

 tants of our planet, have, in their fossil bones, left behind them 

 imperishable monuments of the consummate skill with which they 

 were constructed. Each limb and fragment of a limb form co- 

 ordinate parts of a well-adjusted and perfect whole." 



After reading these descriptions, it is not difficult to form a 

 mental picture of the great beast laying siege to a tree, and to 

 conceive the massive frame of the Megatherium convulsed with 

 the mighty wrestling, every vibrating fibre reacting upon its bony 

 attachment with the force of a hundred giants ; extraordinary 

 must be the strength and proportions of the tree if, when rocked 

 to and fro, to right and left, in such an embrace, it can long 

 withstand the efforts of its assailant. It yields, the roots fly up, 

 the earth is scattered wide upon the surrounding foliage, and the 

 tree comes down with a thundering crash, cracking and snapping 

 the great boughs like glass. Then the coveted food is within 

 reach, and the giant reaps the reward of his Herculean labours. 



Sir Woodbine Parish thought that the Megatherium fed on the 

 Agave, or American aloe. 



Another form of extinct sloth found in the same region is the 

 1 Journal of Researches. 2 JSridgervater Treatise. 



