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CHAPTER I. 

 THE SLOTHS AND ARMADILLOS 



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I 



THE EDENTATA — THE SLOTHS — THE TWO-TOED SLOTH — THE AI OR THREE-TOED SLOTH — THE 

 SPOTTED SLOTH — THE SCALY ANT-EATERS — THE PHATAGIN — THE PANGOLIN — THE TATOUHON 

 — THE GIANT ARMADILLO — THE TATONAY — THE ARMADILLO- THE APAR — THE PICHEOGO. 



THE animals constituting the present Order are the scanty sur- 

 vivors of numerous families which, in earlier periods of the 

 world's history., assumed vast proportions. Many of the fossil 

 species whose bones are dug out of the bowels of the earth, were as 

 large as the ox, the rhinoceros, and the elephant. Of the species now 

 existing, none exceed three feet in length. These singular animals are 

 almost confined to South America, two families are scantily represented 

 in Africa, and one of these extends over all the East. 



The name, Edentata, means " toothless " ; all the order, however, 

 are not completely devoid of teeth, although this is the case with several 

 species ; in all, the incisors are wanting, and there is an empty space in 

 front of their jaws. The teeth, in those that have any, are all alike, and 

 have only one fang. The order is divided into five families. 



THE SLOTHS. 



The family Bradypodid^E is formed by three genera of arboreal 

 animals, confined to the great forests of South America from Guatemala 

 to Brazil and Eastern Bolivia. The Sloths, from their climbing habits, 

 were for a long time classed among the monkeys. On the ground they 

 move with extreme slowness, and this inactivity is the source of the 

 common English name. But if we follow with our eye their motions on 

 a tree, in the midst of those conditions of existence which are natural to 

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