Quadrupeds. 283 



no less than six — enumerated in Professor Owen's list may prove to 

 be synonymous, and thus a new field of scientific research may be- 

 come obscure at the very threshold of the enquiry. 



In the history of every land there is a point at which the real 

 merges in the ideal — at which fact is lost in fiction ; and it is thus 

 in the history of animals. That of the sloth commences with the 

 publication of Waterton's 'Wanderings in South America;' all before 

 that date is fable, or mixed with fable, all after it is fact; and the con- 

 trast is not greater between the humming-bird and the tortoise, than 

 between the sloth oi fact and the sloth oi fiction. The history is fa- 

 miliar to every naturalist, or we should quote it. Let us turn to Dr. 

 Lund's account of the living sloth. 



" Inasmuch as the mechanism of the sloth's movements, so far as I am aware, is 

 not very well known, I may take the liberty of recording the observations I made on 

 the three-toed sloth {Bradypus torquatus) which I kept in my house for a considerable 

 time. This animal climbs with remarkable sureness and aptitude, although, as is well 

 known, with a degree of slowness which, however, may be called rapidity in compari- 

 son with its terrestrial movements. The manner in which it moves is this : — Lying 

 on its belly, with all its four extremities stretched out from its body, it first presses one 

 of its bind feet with all its might against the ground, whereby the corresponding side 

 of the body is a little raised. The fore-leg on the same side thus becomes sufficiently 

 free for the animal to advance it a trifle forward. It then hooks its powerful claws 

 fast in the earth, and so drags its body a little onwards. The same manoeuvre is next 

 repeated on the opposite side ; and thus the poor creature progresses in the slowest and 

 most laborious manner possible. But this mode of progression requires certain condi- 

 tions of the surface ; for if it is not soft enough to admit the insertion of the claws, or 

 if there are no inequalities for them to hold by, the sloth is completely deprived of the 

 power of changing its position. For instance, when I laid it on a table of polished 

 mahogany, it could not advance the least, notwithstanding all its exertions. But in 

 proportion as the sloth's organization unfits it for terrestrial progression, is it wonder- 

 fully adapted to climbing trees. With its long arms it reaches high up, and clings 

 fast to the branches with its strong crooked claws. The inverted position of the soles 

 of its hind feet, gives it a power of grasping the trunk of the tree which no other mam- 

 mal possesses. So that truly, when we see it climbing a tree, we can scarcely believe 

 it to be the same animal that lies so helpless on the ground. Hence we see, that the 

 sloth's organization is entirely adapted for living in trees. Compared with the slow- 

 ness of its motions, it is the best climber among mammals, while it is the worst walk- 

 er; or rather, it is the only mammal that can neither walk nor stand. These peculi- 

 arities depend on three principal points in its organization : — 1st, the great length of 

 its anterior extremities, in comparison with its posterior ; 2dly, its powerful crooked 

 claws ; and 3dly, the irregular position of its hind feet.'' — Lund in Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 New Series, iv. 158. 



In this account there is much that is excellent, but we doubt whe- 

 ther the Doctor ever saw a sloth climbing a tree, except in imagina- 

 tion, or he would never have omitted to notice that it ran below instead 

 of above the boughs, and thus effectually counteracted what he terms 



