54 PROFESSOR TURNER ON THE PLACENTATION OF THE SLOTHS. 
sinuses were developed in it. It is doubtful if these villi had possessed any 
functional activity. 
The Foetus and Epitrichium. 
The foetus, a male, was well developed, and had apparently reached nearly 
the full time. It measured 104 inches along the curve of the back, from the tip 
of the nose to the anal orifice ; from the articulation of the shoulder to the tips 
of the anterior toes 5 inches ; and an almost equal length from the hip-joint to 
the extremities of the hinder toes. The toes were flexed upon the soles. There 
was no external tail. The nipples were two in number, and pectoral in position. 
The umbilical cord was attached to the abdominal wall 14 inch in front of the 
anal orifice. The whole surface of the body, excepting the palms of the hands 
and soles of the feet, was thickly covered by well-developed hairs, which on the 
back and sides both of the body and limbs had a dark brown colour, but on 
the belly and the flexor aspect of the limbs were of a lighter yellowish-brown. 
The colour of the hair of the mother, again, was a tawny yellow, so that a com- 
plete change in the colour of the hairy coat takes place before adult life is reached. 
The length of some of the hairs on the side and back of the body was measured, 
and found to be ;4, inch. The foetus was closely enveloped by a thin membranous 
bag which had remarkable and interesting relations, as was ascertained at the 
time when I removed the membrane from the young animal. This I accom- 
plished by slittmg up the membrane over the head, and then everting it as I 
extracted the foetus from its interior. I found, however, that it was closely 
adherent to and continuous with the tender skin of the margins of the eyelids, 
of the nostrils, and of the margins of the lips, which adhesions had to be torn 
through before the head could be liberated. It was also prolonged down the 
external auditory meatus, and in the region of the muzzle was perforated by 
the tactile hairs, which projected for j4jths inch through and beyond it. But, 
further, each limb of the foetus was invested by an elongated tubular prolon- 
gation of this membrane, as closely as a tight-fitting stocking invests the leg and 
foot (fig. 3); and a distinct attachment existed between it and the soft cuticle 
around the roots of the claws, whilst the claws themselves were each invested by 
a prolongation of the membranous tube. After these prolongations were peeled 
off the limbs, an adhesion between the membrane and the tender skin surrounding 
the anus, and around the abdominal attachment of the umbilical cord, had to 
be torn through before the foetus was finally liberated. A small quantity of a 
white caseous material was found in patches, more especially on the back of the 
animal, between the hairs and the enveloping membrane, but except in these 
localities the membrane was in close contact with the hairs themselves. 
The membrane was translucent, and to the naked eye was not unlike the 
horny layer of the human cuticle. Examined microscopically after digestion in 
