THE SLOTH 261 



ceeded in procuring two living specimens of this animal. 

 The individuals were evidently not adult: the largest 

 measuring thirty inches in length, of which the head 

 and body were twelve inches and the tail eighteen 

 inches. I kept them alive for about a week at Fernando 

 Po, and allowed them the range of a room, where they 

 fed upon a small black ant, which is very abundant and 

 troublesome in the houses and elsewhere. Even when 

 first procured they displayed little or no fear, but continued 

 to climb about the room without noticing my occasional 

 entrance. They would climb up the somewhat roughly 

 hewn square posts which supported the building with 

 great facility, and upon reaching the ceiling would return 

 head foremost ; sometimes they would roll themselves 

 up into a ball and throw themselves down, and appar- 

 ently without experiencing any inconvenience from the 

 fall, which was in a measure broken upon reaching the 

 ground by the semi-yielding scales, which were throw^n 

 into an erect position by the curve of the body of the 

 animal. In climbing, the tail, with its strongly pointed 

 scales beneath, was used to assist the feet, and the 

 grasp of the hind feet, assisted by the tail, was so 

 powerful, that the animal would throw the body back 

 (when on the post) into a horizontal position, and 

 sw^ay itself to and fro, apparently taking pleasure in 

 this kind of exercise. It always slept with the body 

 rolled up, and when in this position in a corner of the 

 building, owing to the position and strength of the 

 scales, and the power of the limbs combined, I found it 

 impossible to remove the animal against its will, the 

 points of the scales being inserted into every little notch 

 and hollow of the surrounding objects. The eyes are 

 very dark and hazel and very prominent. The colonial 

 name for this species of manis is ' Attadillo,' and it is 

 called by the natives of the island ' Gahlah.' The flesh 

 is said to be exceedingly good eating, and it is in great 

 request among the natives." 



The American ant-eater we found to be very unlike 

 sloths, and the armadillos are still more unlike them. 

 The pangolins would seem fully as unlike them as the 



