364 
either by donkey, camel, or horse, and is distant under 
three hours from it—a journey which in the winter may 
with comfort be accomplished in one day from Cairo. 
Indeed, if his Highness, the Khedive, who has done so 
much for the comfort of travellers in making a magnificent 
road to the pyramids, were to extend it for some half mile 
farther through the tract of soft sand, carriages could 
easily drive all the way to the Kém el Khashob. The 
locality is now well known to the Pyramid Arabs, and 
most able and intelligent guides will be found in Ali 
Dobree, Omar, or others of this Bedouin tribe. 
HUNTERIAN LECTURES BY PROF. FLOWER 
LectTuREsS VII. VIII. IX. 
HE family Edentata includes the Bradypodide, Dasy- 
podidzs Myrmecophagidz, Manidz, and Orycteropo- 
didz, the first three being from the new world and the last 
two from the old. Considering them shortly, the Brady- 
podide are leaf-eaters ; they have five molars above and 
four below, no other teeth being present, each tooth isa 
cylindroid column with a persistent pulp, and is sur- 
rounded externally by a harder layer, which causes the 
free surface to become cupped during wear. There is a 
peculiar descending process from the incomplete zygoma. 
The number of the vertebre is great, their spinous and 
other processes are but little developed as the back is not 
much employed in supporting the body. There are 
extra articular surfaces on the lumbar vertebrz of the 
three-toed sloth, not found in the two-toed species. 
The clavicles are sometimes rudimentary, never com- 
plete. A bony arch joins the acromial process of 
the scapula to the coracoid, and the distal end of 
the clavicle in Bradypus is attached to the latter, 
a peculiarity which has been explained by Mr. 
Parker. The supra-spinous notch is converted into 
a foramen by a bony arch running over it, and 
there is a supra-condyloid foramen in the humerus of 
Cholopus only. Considerable rotation of the radius is 
possible ; the hand is peculiarly modified, the fingers 
being bound together. It is generally stated that the 
trapezium is anchylosed to the scaphoid, which is very 
long, but that such is not the case is proved by the exami- 
nation of the young animal ; the trapezium, in fact, anchy- 
loses with the first metacarpal bone. In Cholopus the 
second and third toes are only present. The ilia are 
broad, the femur short and with no ligamentum teres ; 
some peculiar small bones are found round the knee. 
The tibia and fibula are firmly united, but not anchylosed ; 
both genera have three toes on the hind foot. The 
inner surface of the fibular maleolus sends inwards 
a conical process, which acts as the pivot in which the 
externally cupped astragalus is hinged, and thus allows 
of a great range of movement of the foot. The peculiar- 
ities in the number of the cervical vertebrz are well 
known, no similar abnormalities are found in the fossil 
genera. 
The other Edentata are not purely vegetable feeders ; 
they eat ants and other animal food. In the Dasy- 
podidze the teeth are numerous, and the cervical verte- 
brze tend to anchylose together. As in the whole family 
the sternal ribs are ossified. The degree of development 
of the carapace is indicated by the size of the vertebral 
processes, and an extra series of articulations, as in the 
ant-eater and sloth, occurs in the lumbar region. In Myr- 
mecophaga there are no teeth; the hind feet are quite 
normal, the front very peculiar, possessing five toes, and 
claws on the middle three. In the Old World forms, 
Manis and Orycteropus, there is no extra interlocking of 
the lumbar region, and in the former no teeth. Oryctero- 
pus possesses teeth, each of which may be said to bea 
compound tooth, each element of which has a persistent 
pulp. 
NATURE 
Hitherto no true sloths have been found fossil in South 
America ; they were then represented by the Gravigrada, 
which are so termed in contra-distinction to the Tardi- 
grada; they abound in the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and 
are found as far north as the United States. Mesatherium 
was the first of these large animals discovered, and the 
original skeleton, obtained in 1789, is now at Madrid. 
Since then several entire skeletons have been obtained, of 
which two very fine specimens are to be seen at the 
Museums of Turinand Milan. Those of the College and of 
the British Museum are partly from casts. Leidy has 
placed the North American animal in a distinct species 
(MW. mirabile), on account of its geographical distribution, 
but he is unable to detect any osteological peculiarities, 
The only teeth in this animal are five molars with per- 
sistent pulps above, and four below on each side, as in 
Bradypus ; and they form a continuous series. Each 
tooth has a double transverse ridge, the hollow of which 
fits the ridges in the opposite jaw. These ridges do not 
disappear as the animal gets old, but are permanent on 
account of the dentine not being uniform in density, the 
middle being softer than the sides, and therefore wearing 
away more readily. The teeth in the middle of the 
series are the largest. The skull is small considering the 
size of the animal, and the brain-case remarkably so. 
The brain itself, as known from a cast of the interior of 
the cranium by Prof. Gervais, closely resembles that of 
the sloths. The skull is very much elongated, the 
anterior condyloid foramina being large, it is probable that 
the tongue was so also. The palate was extremely 
narrow, and the premaxillary portion extensive. An 
enormous bony process descended from the zygoma which 
is also a peculiarity of the other members of the same 
family. The ramus of the lower jaw was immensely high. 
In the megatherium only is the molar portion of the 
mandible of unusual depth,and this is to hold the con- 
tinually growing teeth. There are seven cervical, sixteen 
dorsal, three lumbar, five sacral, and eighteen caudal 
vertebree ; the lumbars, as in Myrmecophaga and Brady- 
pus, possess interlocking processes ; the whole column 
resembles that of the former of those animals more than 
the latter. The tail was strongly developed, and chevron 
bones existed on the neural surfaces of the caudal ver- 
tebrze. As several scutes were found with the bones of 
Megatherium, and as the different processes of the ver- 
tebrze were strong, it was at one time supposed that this 
animal possessed a shield, but there is no doubt that the 
scutes were those of Glyptodon, and the vertebre do not 
resemble those of the Armadillo. The sternum was com- 
posed of seven pieces, and the clavicles large and well 
developed, being the only examples of these bones, which 
are bigger than those of man. As in the sloths, the 
acromion joined the coracoid, and the supraspinous fora- 
men was strongly bridged over. In its distal limb sez- 
ments the animal was peculiar. There was no supracon- 
dyloid foramen to the humerus ; the radius and ulna were 
free ; all the bones of the carpus were represented ; the 
pollex was lost, and the other digits were present ; the 
fourth and fifth metacarpals were elongated, the proximal 
phalanges very short, and the distal of the index, middle, 
and ring fingers constructed to carry huge claws, which 
differed from those of the cats in being flexed instead of 
extended when they were not in use, upon which depends ~ 
the difference in the shape of their articular surfaces. The 
second and third phalanges of the middle finger were an- 
chylosed, and a phalanx was’ missing in the fifth finger, 
which did not carry a nail. The pelvis presented the 
peculiarities of the sloths, and was very large. The femur 
had a small pit for the insertion of the ligamentum teres. 
The tibia and fibula were anchylesed at both ends. All 
the leg bones were massive. The foot was very peculiar, 
the animal must have rested on its outer edge. The os 
calcis was very large, with the calcarcaneal process going 
nearly as far backwards as the toes forwards. The 
[ Mar. 13, 1873, 
