ly exhausted, happened to come upon another hare in her
form. She instantly drew out the latter, and slipped in herself; the
pack followed the newly-started hare, and the huntsmen, coming up,
found the animal they had been chasing, lying down in the form, panting
very hard, and covered with mud.

A gentleman, actuated by curiosity, put one male and two female hares
in a large garden, walled entirely round, where they had plenty to eat.
Judge his surprise, when he opened the gate of the garden in a year
from the time that he had shut in the animals, to find that his family
had increased to the number of forty-seven!

A hare was once seen to start from its form at the sound of the hunting
horn, run towards a pool of water at a considerable distance, plunge
in, and run to some rushes in the middle, where it lay down, and
concealed itself. By this ingenious trick, the animal balked its
pursuers, and effected its escape.

ORDER VII.

EDENTATA,

ANIMALS WITHOUT FRONT TEETH.

The animals in this order are not numerous, but they are marked with
very peculiar characteristics. The chief species are the sloths,
armadilloes, ant-eaters, and pangolins, of South America, and the
platypus of Australia. Most of these are too little known to have
furnished us with characteristic anecdotes.

THE SLOTH.

This singular animal is destined by nature to live upon the trees. He
is rare and solitary; and, as he is good for food, he is much sought
after by the Indians and negroes. He is ill at ease on the ground,
having no soles to his feet, which are so formed as to enable him to
cling to the branches of trees, from which he suspends himself.

Mr. Waterton kept one of these animals in his room for several months.
"I often took him out of the house," says he, "and placed him on the
ground, in order to get a good opportunity of observing his motions. If
the ground was rough, he would pull himself forward, by means of his
fore legs, at a pretty good pace; but he invariably shaped his course
towards the nearest tree. But if I put him upon a smooth and
well-trodden part of the road, he appeared to be in trouble and
distress: his favorite abode was on the back of a chair; and after
getting all his legs in a line upon the topmost part of it, he would
hang there for hours together, and often, with a low and inward cry,
would seem to invite me to take notice of him."

The same author thus describes an adventure with a sloth: "One