Note 195 — Chapter VI

Perico ligero, one of the sloth tribe (Bradypus didactylus). The snout is short, forehead high, eyes black and almost covered with long black eyelashes, no incisors in the upper jaw, legs ill-formed, thighs ill-shaped and clumsy, hind legs short and thick, the toes united, having three long curved claws on the hind and fore feet, twenty-eight ribs, and very short tail. The whole length of the body is between four and five feet. The animal is the very picture of misery, and covered with long shaggy hair like dried grass. Its motion is very slow, at each step it howls most hideously, and scarcely walks ten yards in as many hours. It feeds on leaves and buds, and when it has once gained the top of a tree it will remain there as long as a leaf is to be procured. Stevenson, ii, p. 237.