BRADYPUS TRIDACTYLUS. 179 



continued up the loins (almost similar to the horns of the uterus in 

 many quadrupeds) and is attached to the lower end of an oblong body 

 which may be supposed to be the capsula renalis [remnant of the ' corpus 

 Wolffianum '] : but there is a body [the true supra-renal one] placed 

 upon the upper end of the kidney, which is not so like the capsule in 

 structure as this I have been describing. 



This animal has a very long hand and foot ; it has two fingers on the 

 hand with very long claws, and has a longer foot with three toes, also 

 with very long claws. Both the two fingers and the three toes are 

 united, similar to the metacarpus and metatarsus in other animals ; 

 therefore the two fingers must move together, as also the three toes. 



The hair is not thick ; it is about an inch long, pretty strong and 

 waving : it is of the same kind in every part, no one part having two 

 kinds of hair. I found in the stomach of Dr. Blane's specimen, leaves 

 of plants, seeds, and something similar to twigs and the inner bark 1 . 



The Sloth, or Ai of Buffon [Bradypus tridactylus, Linn.] . 



The lungs adhere to the diaphragm all round the vena cava inferior ; 

 and from this adhesion there would seem to go out in a radiate manner 

 muscular fibres, diverging on the lower concave surface of the lungs, 

 adhering to them, and being there lost. If this is muscle, the use must 

 be to contract the lungs and counteract the diaphragm. The lungs 

 also adhere to the pericardium. 



The trachea 2 passes down on the right of the aorta, close to the spine, 

 through the whole length of the thorax ; and, when got as far as the 

 diaphragm or lower part of the lungs, it bends up upon itself, which 

 fold is before and a little on the left of the other ; and, behind the heart, 

 it makes a turn forward and downward, and there divides into two 

 branches, one going to each lung: these have but two lobes on the 

 right, and one on the left side. The cells are very large ; much more 

 so than in any other quadruped that I know. 



The oesophagus is small ; the stomach is large, and of a very singular 

 shape (vide Preparation 3 ). The last part of the stomach, which 1 sup- 

 pose is the digestive part, is somewhat like the last bag in the rumi- 

 nants : it passes to the left under the liver in a contorted course, and 

 terminates in a stricture or pylorus. The duodenum passes down the 

 right side, loose, as low as the lower part of the abdomen, in a convo- 

 luted manner, and is then bent up upon itself in the same manner 



1 [" In the stomach were found leaves, seeds, twigs, and the inner rind of the bark, 

 showing the kind of food the animal lives upon." — Home, Comp. Anat. i. p. 434.] 

 * [Hunt. Prep. No. 1154.] 3 [No. 310, Dry Prep.] 



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