SLOTH. 
and has added to them one of his own, Piso 
ha,-; given the skeleton of this animal, with a 
figure of it crawling like a toad ; and, in the 
frontispiece of his book, one climbing up a 
tree : he calls it *' Ai, sive Ignavus," and 
makes a major and a minor species. Dam- 
pier says — " The Sloth feeds on the leaves of 
trees, stripping one tree of it's leaves before it 
descends; and is so slow of motion, that it is 
almost starved before it can climb another 
tree, though the trees are near together." 
Don "Antonio De Ulloa savs that, in the coun- 
try about Porto-Bello, there is an animal," 
— I suppose," says Edwards, " our Sloth — 
*' called Perico Ligeie, or Nimble Peter: an 
ironical name, given it on account of it's ex- 
treme sluggishness and sloth. He is so lumpish 
as not to stand in need of either chain or 
hutch ; for he never stirs till compelled by 
hunger, and shews no manner of apprehen- 
sion either of men or wild beasts. His food 
is generally wild fruits; and when he can find 
none on the ground, he looks out for a tree 
well loaded, which with much pain he climbs, 
and in order to save himself the trouble of a 
second ascent, plucks off all the fruit, and 
throws 
