keys, with which it can swing itself
from branch to branch. The tail is covered with fur, with the exception
of about three inches of the under surface at the extremity. It has a
small head, the snout sharpened and bent slightly downwards. A soft,
curled, and pale yellow-brown fur clothes its body. It has only two
claws on each of its fore-feet, the exterior one being stronger and
larger than the interior. With these weapons it is enabled to hook out
the small insects from the crevices of the bark, or grubs from the nests
of bees or wasps. Like the squirrel, it sits upon its hind-limbs when
eating, supporting itself with its prehensile tail. It may more
properly be called the twisted-tail ant-eater (Cyclothurus didactylus).

There is another small ant-eater found in Guiana, called the striped
ant-eater (Myrmecophaga striata), from the marks on its body. Its
general colour is of a tawny hue, the under parts being white. It is
marked with broad, distinct, blackish transverse stripes, and the tail
is annulated with similar ones. Its whole length, from the tip of its
nose to the end of its tail, is about twenty inches. The snout is
elongated, the upper mandible extending very little beyond the lower.

THE SLOTH.

That shaggy-haired creature, which may be seen hanging from the boughs
of the lofty cecropia--the much-abused sloth--is generally described as
a type of laziness, doomed to a helpless and wretched existence; but
such an animal the all-beneficent Creator has not placed on the earth.
To each animal that he has formed he has given an instinct and
organisation specially adapted to their mode of life and the part they
are destined to perform in the economy of nature. The sloth is formed
to pass its time in trees, and to feed on the superabundant leaves,
which would otherwise impede the circulation of the air, retard their
growth, or bring on premature decay. This duty it shares with
numberless other animals of the luxuriant forests of Tropical America.
Place the sloth out of its natural position, and, as would be the case
with other animals, it finds itself in a difficulty. Its destiny is to
live in the dense forest, where, the branches of the trees meeting each
other, it can move along from bough to bough, and make its way for
considerable distances without difficulty, or having to descend to the
ground. When by force or accident placed on the ground, it is unable to
move along except at a slow and toi