Us Or BUSHY “iAliz 
ment and as a weapon is arrived at by the exaggeration 
of one of them, the middle claw ; this has grown at the 
expense of the rest, and has thus been able with the same 
available material to reach a larger size and strength 
than if the material were distributed fairly through the 
hand. It will be just as well not to investigate in the 
Zoo the nature and uses of these claws. An individual 
possessed by the idea that the umbrella of commerce 
was an implement of use in the study of zoological pro- 
blems, proceeded to roke out an ant-bear. Theant-bear 
retaliated, and the result was that there was no evidence 
on the umbrella, but only in the paws of the bear, that 
it had ever hada silk cover. The long and bushy tail has 
ause that was at first scouted as improbable, but is now 
upheld. During sleep and in stormy weather, Myrme- 
cophaga winds its tail round its head and body in such 
a way that they must be protected from the weather. 
This ant-bear is never arboreal. But South America 
nourishes two allied genera, viz. Tamandua and Cyclo- 
thurus, which both live in trees. The former is not un- 
frequently to be seen at the Zoo. 
THE SLOTH 
An exceedingly dependent animal is the sloth. It 
lives in a continual state of suspense, as Sidney Smith 
remarked, like a curate distantly related to a bishop. 
The same reverend and witty author furthermore added 
that the uses of a sloth hanging from the branches of a 
Brazilian forest were not obvious ; but that on the other 
hand it might be fairly asked, ““ What was the use of a 
gentleman in Bond Street ?’? We need not now ask 
such a question concerning the sloth ; there are other 
and more pressing queries. There is no better instance 
in the whole animal kingdom of a creature which is 
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