Occasional Notes, 
Intelligence of the Sloth. — As a contribution to 
the mental characteristics of the lower types of animals, 
the following note on the sloth possesses a certain 
amount of interest. A young specimen of the common 
two- toed sloth f Choice/) us didaclylus) had been kept 
in a small ante-room of the Museum, and allowed 
to be at large during the day when it was under obser- 
vation as it climbed about, chiefly on the railing of 
the stairs; but each afternoon, at a little before four 
o'clock, it had been placed in a box in a corner of the 
room and covered down for the night. In the morning 
the cover was simply partially removed and the sloth 
allowed to take its own time incoming out and climbing 
where it listed. This went on for about two months, 
when my attention was drawn by the coolie attendant to 
the fa6l that the sloth had started the habit of going of 
its own accord to the box and of getting in just at about 
the period when it was accustomed to be placed there 
for the night. The animal was watched ; and daily, 
month by month, between three and four o'clock, though 
at varying times during that hour, the little animal 
started from the several places where the time found it, 
along the line of rails, and got into its box. 
This association of ideas is rendered particularly 
striking from the element ot time, and from the fact that 
the creature could hardly have regarded the box as a 
sleeping place, since the greater part of the day was 
passed in sleep outside. That an animal, even such 
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