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, and 
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* 
