60 LECTURE II. 



The genus Bradypus or Sloth is highly remark- 

 able. It consists of but very few species, of which 

 the most curious is the three-toed Sloth, or Brady- 

 pus tridactylus of Linnaeus. This quadruped is a 

 native of the hotter parts of South America, where 

 it resides on trees, feeding on the foliage and fruit. 

 It is of all quadrupeds the slowest in its motions, 

 appearing even to move with difficulty, and 

 never exerting its progressive powers, except 

 when urged by a want of food. Before the dis- 

 covery of the western hemisphere, the common 

 Tortoise seems to have been considered as the 

 established type of tardiness; but the three-toed 

 Sloth is a much more striking example of languid 

 motion and habitual inactivity. The early ac- 

 counts, however, of this extraordinary animal seem 

 to have been given with a considerable degree of 

 exaggeration; it having been at first pretended, 

 that the creature could scarcely advance to the 

 distance of a stone's throw in less than fifteen 

 days: that it required eight or nine minutes, in 

 order to move one foot to the distance of three 

 inches. The general appearance of the Sloth is 

 extremely uncouth: its size is that of a smallish 



