The lower jaw has a kind of blunted lobe in front, and the angle of
this jaw is broad, triangular, with a rounded lower edge, and it
projects backwards beyond the joint which connects the bone with the
skull. The cheek bone has those peculiarities which have already been
mentioned. The teeth are peculiar, for the first or foremost grinders
are smaller than the others, and the second upper grinder is the
largest of all. The first grinder on the lower jaw is broader than the
rest, and the hinder are the largest, being also cylindrical.
[Illustration: COLLARED SLOTH. (From Prince Maximilian of Neuwied’s
_Animals of Brazil_.)]
It has the general method of living of the Sloths, being perhaps not
quite so lively or active as the Unau, and feeds mainly on _Cecropia_
leaves, finishing those of one tree as far as it can before commencing
those of another. Like all the Sloths, it has the power of long and
sustained muscular action, and can cling on, or grasp, for a very long
time without perceptible fatigue, and this gift is associated with a
structure of the blood-vessels which supply the muscles, resembling, as
we have said, that noticed in some of the Lemurs. The main artery which
supplies each of the fore limbs is the axillary, so called from its
being found in the armpit or axilla. In quickly-moving animals this
vessel reaches into the upper arm, and divides into a few rather large
ones lower down, and these give off others, so that a certain quantity
of blood is supplied and removed quickly. But in the Sloths the
axillary artery divides at once into a number of cylindrical vessels
nearly as large as it is, and they are united here and there. These
unusual arteries are found in contact with the surface of the muscles,
and their branches go in and amongst the muscular bundles. As many as
forty-two of these large vessels were counted by Sir A. Carlisle, on
the surface of the muscles on the front of the arm, and probably about
twenty were inside. These arteries thus carry an immense supply of
blood to the muscles, but blood which, although it is finally removed
by the veins, does not move very rapidly. In fact, the muscles are
turgid with blood. The same arterial structure is seen in the hinder
limbs, and the arteries of the thigh form as numerous a set as those of
the arm.
[Illustration: AI. (From the _Proceedings of the Zoological Society_.)]
It seems to be in accordance with careful investigation, to state that
the species of Sloth called _Bradypus tridactylus_ (the Three-toed
Sloth, or Ai) has too large a meaning, and that it really refers to
the Collared Sloth, as well as to others which have been placed in the
next genus. It is as well to remark here, that although there are three
clawed fingers to the fore limb, there are vestiges of two other ones
by their side in the form of two rudimentary metacarpal bones.
GENUS ARCTOPITHECUS.--THE AI.[59]
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