THE SLOTH MISNAMED. 



495 



his head, and in deficiency of tail, while his long rough hair, 

 coarse and shaggy, like dry withered grass, recalls the fur of the 

 ant-eater. The most singular peculiarity of his organization is the 

 structure of the feet, whose strong crooked claws, to the number of 

 three or more in each limb, are so linked together that they cannot 

 be moved separately. 



The name of "Sloth" popularly bestowed on this animal is not 





CHEIROMYS, OK AYE-AYE OF MADAGASCAR. 



so well-deserved as some writers of Zoology made Easy have repre- 

 sented. It is true that his progress on the ground is made with 

 difficulty and slowness ; but in the trees, his customary sojourn, he 

 displays considerable address, and transports himself easily from tree 

 to tree. " He moves suspended from the branch," says Waterton ; 

 "he rests suspended from the branch, and he sleeps suspended from 

 the branch. Hence his seemingly bungled composition is at once 



