SLOTH. 407 



ORDER EDENTATA.* 



The teeth of quadrupeds are simply mechanical instruments 

 adapted to obtain and to prepare the food for digestion, and are, 

 consequently, modified in their construction in accordance with the 

 aliment. To animals which live exclusively upon the foliage of 

 trees, the possession of incisor teeth would be useless, and to others 

 that feed upon such materials as do not require mastication, reeth 

 of any kind would be superfluous. To quadrupeds thus circum- 

 stanced, Cuvier has therefore given the general name of Edentata, 

 apparently implying that animals so designated are entirely de- 

 prived of teeth, as, indeed, is literally the case with some species, 

 but in others teeth do exist, though of a very peculiar structure. 

 They all, however, agree in having no front or incisor teeth. 



The Order Edentata, therefore, includes all quadrupeds pro- 

 vided with separated toes, that are without incisor teeth either in 

 the upper or lower jaw. 



Although associated by a character purely negative, the animals 

 thus designated present many points of relationship. Their toes 

 are enveloped in very large and strong nails, upon which they 

 walk with difficulty, and all of them exhibit a slowness and want 

 of agility obviously caused by the structure and position of their 

 feet. There are, however, certain intervals in these relations by 

 which the Order may be divided into the following families : 



The Sloths (Bradypus},^ When on the ground nothing can be more 

 awkward, more misshapen, and more powerless than the sloths. Their short 

 ungainly body is supported on limbs of such unequal length, that in order 

 to walk these animals are obliged to lean on their elbows, and their thighs 

 are turned outwards to such an extent that they cannot bring their knees to- 

 gether. Moreover, their hind feet are united to the legs in such a manner 

 that they only touch the ground by their outer edge, and their toes are so 

 joined together by the skin that nothing is seen of them but their enormous 

 hooked nails, and these possess so little movement that, at a certain age, they 

 become completely soldered, as it were, to the bones of the foot. When they 

 sit upright, which seems the position least inconvenient to them, their mouth 

 is directed straight upwards, so that it is very difficult for them to graze on 

 the ground ; and if we add to this the extreme slowness of their movements, 

 to which they are indebted for the name they bear, we might almost be tempted 

 to agree with the expression of Cuvier, that in constructing these animals 

 " Nature seems to have amused herself by the production of something im- 

 perfect and grotesque." 



It is not, however, upon the ground that the habits of the sloth are to be 

 criticised : its home is on the trees, where, amidst the dense forests that border 



* Edentata, toothless. t fipaSvs, bradus, slow, heavy ; TTOVS, pous, afoot: slow-footed. 



