370 P1CTURUESQE SKETCHES 



megatheroid type than either the Mylodon or Mega- 

 lonyx, and even exceeds them in some of those mon- 

 strous proportions for which they are so remarkable. 

 It is also interesting as exhibiting a transition to the 

 ant-eater and armadillo, which it resembles more than 

 the sloth in the form and structure of the skull. In 

 all important points, however, as well with regard to 

 the head as the vertebral column, and also in the den- 

 tition, the scelidothere and the Megatherium are so 

 closely analogous that they hardly admit of a separate 

 description. In the fore extremities the same singu- 

 lar contrivances present themselves; and in the hinder 

 extremities and the tail, the strength is perhaps greater 

 in proportion than in any known animal, living or ex- 

 tinct. 



Of these bones the femur, or thigh-bone, is the 

 most remarkable, and it differs in some points from 

 the corresponding part of the megathere, its breadth 

 being greater in proportion to its length than is the 

 case even in that singularly proportioned animal. It 

 appears, that, although the total length of the scelido- 

 there could not have been greater than that of a New- 

 foundland dog, the fore extremities not being larger, 

 and the height not nearly so great, the hind extremi- 

 ties were more gigantic than those of the largest 

 rhinoceros or hippopotamus, and the animal was pro- 

 vided with a tail so thick and strong, that there is 

 nothing in existing nature with which to compare it. 



We have now only to consider what can have been 

 the habits of animals so strangely organized, resem- 

 bling the sloth in the structure of the teeth and other 

 characters which mark the food to have been the leaves 

 and tender twigs of trees, but rather approximating to 



