When its food, consisting of carrots and lettuce, and bread-and-milk, is put down in the morning it is soon in movement, and enjoys its meal hanging down from a bar with its hind legs, and resting its back on the floor of the cage. It seizes the food between the claws and the long straight palm of the fore-foot, and passes it into its mouth, chewing actively with the molar teeth, especially with the first, which are sharp. It cares little for the spectators, and when it has finished, slowly mounts up into a corner of its little den and settles down to sleep. In the evening it becomes lively, for it is, and, indeed, all Sloths are, nocturnal in habit. The hairless snout, of a light red tint, the absence of “smellers,” the little eyes with a few hairs around them, and the broad forehead, give the animal a curious appearance. The hair is brushed back on the forehead, and comes around the very small ears on to the cheeks, and is whitey-brown, and this same tint is seen over the whole of the back in long slender hairs. But the under hair is light red or red-brown. The long and slender hand, with its two claws, contrasts with the rather bulky upper part of the limbs, and the flesh-coloured palms are very remarkable. [Illustration: HOFFMANN’S SLOTH.] The whole of the Sloths lead very monotonous lives; their food is ever within their reach, and it is abundant, and they do not appear to have to compete much or at all in the struggle for existence with other animals. Their enemies are Snakes and the Carnivora, but it is evident that they are much more readily preserved by their habits from the latter than from the former. Leading such an uneventful existence, there is no great call upon their nervous energies or intelligence, and these are at a low pitch. The brain consequently is very simple in regard to convolutions, which are few in number and shallow. CHAPTER II. THE ANT-EATERS.