164 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The second genus is Arctopitkecus (Gray), and it contains species which have the males and females 

 dissimilar in their colour and ornamentation, and the malar bone has a thin and narrow upper process. 



The second family of the Sloths (the CHOIXEPODID.E) contains but one genus, Chcloepua (the 

 Unau), whose species have two claws on the fore limbs and three on the hind ones. The front 

 of the lower jaw is stuck out, and not cut short, and the first molar teeth are long. 



The genus Bradypus probably contains several species, but it is only necessary to mention one, 

 which is called 



THE COLLARED SLOTH, OR THE HAIRY SLOTH.* 



This Sloth lives in the densest forests of Brazil, Peru, and Para, and is found not far from 

 Rio Janeiro. 



It is a kind of the Three-clawed Sloths, in which there is little or no difference between the fur of 

 the males and females. The neck is surrounded by a large collar of long black hair, and underneath 

 this is a fur of a dark-brown colour. The face is naked, and is of a black colour, and the hair of the 



body is not veiy flattened, but is 

 withered-looking to a certain extent. 

 The forehead, temples, chin, throat, 

 and breast are covered with reddish 

 or rust-coloured hair, slightly griz- 

 zled. On the crown of the head it 

 is long and yellow, and pale orange 

 on the rest of the body. This Sloth 

 produces one at a birth. 



The lower jaw has a kind of 

 blunted lobe in front, and the angle 

 of this jaw is broad, triangular, with 

 a rounded lower edge, and it projects 

 backwards beyond the joint which 

 connects the bone with the skull. 

 The cheek bone has those peculiari- 

 ties which have already been men- 

 tioned. The teeth are peculiar, for 

 the first or foremost grinders are 

 smaller than the others, and the 

 second upper grinder is the largest 

 of all. The first grinder on the 

 lower jaw is broader than the rest, 

 and the hinder are the largest, being 

 also cylindrical. 



It has the general method of 

 living of the Sloths, being perhaps 

 not quite so lively or active as the 

 Unau, and feeds mainly on Cecro- 

 pia leaves, finishing those of one tree 

 as far as it can before commencing 

 those of another. Like all the Sloths, 

 it has the power of long and sus- 



COLLARED SLOTH. (From Prince Maximilian of Neuwied's Animals of Brazil.) tained muscular action, and can ding 



on, or grasp, for a very long time 



without perceptible fatigue, and this gift is associated with a structure of the blood-vessels which supply 

 the muscles, resembling, as we have said, that noticed in some of the Lemurs. The main artery 

 which supplies each of the fore limbs is the axillary, so called from its being found in the armpit or 



* Bradypus torquatus, or Bradypus crinitus. 



