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Show 160 MAMMALIA. BnADYPus, Lin. The Sloths have cylindrical molars, and sharp canini longer than those molars, two mammre on the breast, and fingers united by the skin, and only marked externally by enormous compressed and crooked nails, which, when at rest, are always bent towards the palm of the hand, or the sole of the foot. The hi~d feet are ob· liquely articulated on the leg, and rest only upon the1r outer edge; the phalanges of the toes are articulated by a· close ginglymus, and the first, at a certain age, become soldered to the bones of the meta· carpus or metatarsus, which also, in time, for want of use, expe· rience the same fate. To this inconvenience in the organization of the extremities is added another, not less great, in their proportions. The arm and fore-arm are much longer than the thigh and leg, so that when these animals walk, they are compelled to drag them· selves along on their elbows. The pelvis is so large, and their thighs so much inclined to the sides, that they cannot approximate their knees. Their gait is the necessary effect of such a dispropor· tioned structure.( 1) They live in trees, and never remove from the one they are on until they have stripped it of every leaf, so painful to them is the requisite exertion to reach another. It is even asserted that to avoid the trouble of a regular descent, they let themselves fall from a branch. The female produces but a single young one at a birth, which she carries on her back. The viscera of these animals are not less singular than the rest of their conformation. The stomach is divided into four sacks, ana· logous to the four stomachs of the Ruminantia, but without leaflets or other internally salient parts, while the intestinal canal is short, and without a crecum. M. Fr. Cuvier applies the name of AoHEUS to those species that have three nails to the fore feet; they have a very short tail. Bradypus tridactylus, L.; Buff. XIII, v and vi. (The Ai.) A species in which sluggishness and all the details of the organiza· tion which produce it are carried to the highest degree. The thumb and the little toe, reduced to small rudiments, are hidden under the skin, and soldered to the metatarsus and meta· carpus ; the clavicle, also reduced to a rudiment, is firmlf (1) M. Carlisle has observed that the arteries of the limbs commence by splitting into an infinitude of ramifications, which afterwards unite in one trunk, from which th: ~ual branches proceed. This structure being met with in the Loris, whose g~It IS almost equally sluggish, it is possible that it may exert some influence on this slo~ncss of motion. Independently of this, the Loris, the Ourang-Outang1 the Coa1ta, all very slow animals, are remarkable for the length of theil· arms. EDENTATA. 161 united to the. acromion. The arms are double the length of the legs ; the ha1. r on the head, back, and limbs 1· s long, coarse, a?d non-elastic, something like dried hay, which gives it a most h1deo~ a~pect .. Its colour is grey, the back being frequently spotte w1th wh~te and brown. It is as large as a Cat, and is the only mamm1ferous animal known which has nine cervical vertebra::. The:e is an AI called the Dos brule, from the circumstance of havmg between the shoulders a black spot, surrounded with f~wn colour; but, according to Temminck, it is only a variety; tne appearance alluded to resulting from the wearing away of the long hair on the shoulder. The Blac_k Collared .B.'i, how~ ver,-B:ad. torq~atus, G~o~. Ann. Mus., Schreb. LXXIV, A, 1s a spec1es that 1s very d1stmct, even in the bony structure of the head. M. F:· Cuvier applies the name of BRADYPus to those species only. wh1c.h. have two nails to the fore feet, the CHoL.JEPus, Illig. :hetr camm are larger and more pointed, and they are wholly destitute of a tail. There is but one known. B. didactylus, L.; Buff. XIII, i. (The Unau.) Which is somewhat less unfortunately organized than the A'i. Its arms are not so long, and its clavicles are complete; there are fewer hones of th.e feet and hands which become soldered together; the muzzle 1s ~ore elon?ated, &c. It is larger than the A'i by one half, and 1s of a umform greyish-brown, which sometimes has a reddish tint. These two animals are natives of the hot parts of America and, long ere this, would probably have been destroyed by th; num~rous Carnivora of that country, had they not possessed some means of defence in their nails. ( 1) Fossil skeletons of two Edentata of great size have been (1) It. · d 19 smgular that the B. didactylua was not known before the time of Seba tahn .t hat for a Ion g tim e natural is ts ob stm. ately persi. sted m. referr.m g 1. t, on the au-' ~r.1ty of that ignorant collector, to Ceylon. Erxleben has maintained its African loans gm ' ha v.m g m.i staken 1. t for the Poto of Bosmann, which is a Galago. (See this tgenus.) It is a fact that the Unau is only found in South America Shaw Gen z 1 d · . • h . h ' . · oo ., un er the name of Brad. ursmus, has described an animal of w IC llhgerh d h' V I as ma e IS genus Prochylus. M. lluchanan, Trav. in the Mysore, 0 ·II, P 198 h h · b I : ' as s own 1t to e a true Bear, and in fact we have satisfied our-swea sv es by ms pec f mg the cram. um of the very individual desct·ibed by Shaw, that it Ur a Bear of the species termed thick-lipped, which had lost its incisors. See 3118, &c. VoL. 1.-V |