402 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



hereafter, when we see him in his proper haunts. His 

 fore legs, or, more correctly speaking, his arms, are appar- 

 ently much too long, while his hind legs are very short, 

 and look as if they could he bent almost to the shape of a 

 corkscrew. Both the fore and hind legs, by their form, and 

 by the manner in which they are joined to the body, are 

 quite incapacitated from acting in a perpendicular .direc- 

 tion, or in supporting it on the earth, as the bodies of 

 other quadrupeds are supported by their legs. Hence, 

 when you place him on the floor, his belly touches the 

 ground. Now, granted that he supported himself on his 

 legs like other animals, nevertheless he would be in pain, 

 for he has no soles to his feet, and his claws are very sharp 

 and long and curved ; so that, were his body supported 

 by his feet, it would be by their extremities, just as your 

 body would be were you to throw yourself on all fours, 

 and try to support it on the ends of your toes and fingers — 

 a trying position. Were the floor of glass, or of a polished 

 surface, the sloth would actually be quite stationary ; but, 

 as the ground is generally rough, with little protuberances 

 upon it, such as stones, or roots of grass, etc., this just 

 suits the sloth, and he moves his fore legs in all directions, 

 in order to find something to lay hold of ; and when he has 

 succeeded, he pulls himself forward, and is thus enabled to 

 travel onward, but at the same time in so tardy and awk- 

 ward a manner as to acquire the name of sloth. 



3. Indeed, his looks and his gestures evidently betray 

 his uncomfortable situation ; and, as a sigh every now and 

 then escapes him, we may be entitled to conclude that he 

 is actually in pain. 



4. Some years ago I kept a sloth in my room for several 

 months. I often took him out of the house and placed 

 him upon the ground, in order to have an opportunity of 

 observing his motions. If the ground was rough, he would 

 pull himself forward, by means of his fore legs, at a pretty 



