face lies buried in the long wool which covers
those parts, and is thus protected during sleep
from the myriads of insects which would otherwise attack it.[1]
Family II. Megatheriadæ.
(Fossil Sloths.)
This group of animals, whose gigantic size and massive proportions strike us with astonishment as we contemplate their recovered fossil remains, have long ceased to make this earth resound with their heavy tread. Professor Owen, who names the Family Gravigrada, thus announces its distinctive characters: Feet short, very strong, equal or nearly equal; fore feet having either four or five toes; one or two of the external toes unarmed, fit for support and progression; the rest armed with great curved claws: tail moderately long, stout, and so formed as to act as a prop. In the structure of their teeth, and their general anatomy they resemble the Sloths. ‘There are five or six genera, all discovered in America, and principally in the southern division of that continent.
Genus Mylodon. (Owen.)
We must refer our readers to Professor Owen’s most elaborate and interesting "Description of the Skeleton of an extinct Gigantic Sloth;" for a full account of this genus, as well as of others belonging to the same Family; or to the skeleton itself, as it stands in the noble museum of the Royal
- ↑ Prof. Buckland, in Linn. Trans. 1835.
