GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- 2. 3 -- |-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Sloths are a remarkable group of arboreal mammals, strictly confined to the great forests of the Neotropical region, from Guatemala to Brazil and Eastern Bolivia. None are found west of the Andes, nor do they appear to extend into Paraguay, or beyond the Tropic of Capricorn on the east coast. The genera as defined by Dr. Gray in 1871 are:--_Choloepus_ (2 sp.), "Sloths with two toes on fore limbs, sexes alike," Costa Rica to Brazil; _Bradypus_ (2 sp.), "Sloths with three toes on fore limbs, sexes alike," Central Brazil, Amazon to Rio de Janeiro; _Arctopithecus_ (8 sp.), "Sloths with three toes on fore limbs, males with a coloured patch on the back," Costa Rica to Brazil and Eastern Bolivia (Plate XIV., vol ii. p. 24). {245}_Extinct Bradypodidæ._--In the caves of Brazil are found three extinct genera of Sloths--_Cælodon_, _Sphenodon_, and _Ochotherium_. More distantly allied, and probably forming distinct families, are _Scelidotherium_ and _Megatherium_, from the caves of Brazil and the Pliocene deposits of La Plata and Patagonia. FAMILY 72.--MANIDIDÆ. (1 Genus, 8 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|1. 2. 3 -- |1. 2. 3. 4 |-- -- -- -- | | | | |