NOTES. 291 



(78.) Report on the Progress and Present State of Ornithology, 

 by H. E. Strickland ; British Association, 1844. 



(79.) A different position was assigned to the herbivorous cetes 

 in the fifth edition. Since then, the balance of evidence appears to 

 me decidedly for the arrangement above indicated. 



(80.) The sloths have been raised from association with the ant- 

 eaters and armadillos to the Primates, by a French naturalist, in 

 consideration of the complete nature of the fore-arm, the head of the 

 radius being round and apt for rotation ; also, from the thorax being 

 rather wide than deep, and from the form of the trunk in its lower 

 part. Mr. Owen is opposed to the translation ; bnt it is supported by 

 Mr. Edward Newman, a living zoologist of good reputation. The 

 following are Mr. Newman's reasons : 



" The face of the sloth is round, short, and remarkable for its 

 almost human expression, a character even more observable in this 

 animal than in the majority of monkeys. The structure of the skull 

 and teeth also exhibits some approaches to the monkeys, but none to 

 the ant-eaters. The size, figure, and general external appearance is 

 that of a monkey. The mammae are two only, and these are pectoral. 

 The feet are always used as hands for grasping and climbing, and 

 never as feet for walking or running on the ground. The sloth 

 spends his time entirely in trees, among the branches of which he 

 travels with wonderful rapidity." System of Nature, 184A 



(81.) It was suggested that the megatherium might exhibit an 

 alliance to the armadillos by a bony armour. Mr. Newman (System 

 of Nature) expresses his dissent to this notion, because "the dorsal 

 vertebrae want those lateral processes so essential to the support of 

 a weighty osseous carapace. I should rather fancy him a sloth in all 

 his characters, with a round monkey-like face, an awkward gait, 

 shaggy hair, pectoral mammae, &c. Megalonyx, Milodon, and (if 

 distinct) Dr. Harlan's Oryctotherium Missouriense, evidently approach 

 Megatherium, and unite in forming a group of animals, &c." 



(82.) Newman's System of Nature. 



(83.) British Fossil Mammalia and Birds, p. 69. 



(84.) See this argument more fully elucidated in Explanations, a 

 Sequel to tte Vestiges, &c. 



(85.) See Pritchard's Researches into the Physical History of 

 Man. 



(86.) Buckingham's Travels among the Arabs. 



