THREE-TOED SLOTH. 151 



are armed each with three most excessively strong 

 and large claws, of a slightly curved form, and 

 sharp-pointed. The head is small ; the face short, 

 with a rounded or blunt snout, which is naked and 

 of a blackish-colour : the eyes are small, black, ami 

 round: the ears rather small, flat, rounded, lying, 

 close to the head, and not unlike those of Mon- 

 kies. The hair on the top of the head is so dispos- 

 ed as to project somewhat over the forehead and 

 sides of the face, giving a very peculiar and gro- 

 tesque physiognomy to the animal. The general 

 colour of the hair on all parts is a greyish brown, 

 and the hair is extremely coarse, moderately long, 

 and very thickly covers the body, more especially 

 about the back and thighs. A remarkable cha- 

 racter as to colour in this species, is a wide 

 patch or space on the upper part of the back, of 

 a bright ferruginous or rather pale orange-colour, 

 spotted on each side with black, and marked 

 down the middle with a very conspicuous black 

 stripe; wide at its origin, and gradually tapering 

 to its extremity : it reaches more than half way 

 down the back, and terminates in a sort of trifid 

 mark ; so that the whole gives a highly singular 

 appearance to the animal, when viewed from be- 

 hind. This particularity is remarkably distinct 

 in the very fine specimen preserved in the Leve- 

 rian Museum. So far as I am able to determine, 

 from the inspection of numerous specimens, it is 

 scarce, if at all, visible in the young animals, 

 which are merely of an uniform greyish brown. 

 The tail is nearly imperceptible, being so ex- 



