hness of their movements,
amounting almost to complete inactivity. They scarce stir from the spot
in which they may be placed, or at all events move so slowly as to be a
whole hour in getting from one tree to another, or even from one limb to
another! They spend most part of their time upon the trees (the
_cecropia peltata_ is their favourite), usually clinging to the branches
with their backs downward; and in this way they crawl from one to
another, uttering at intervals a plaintive cry, which resembles the
syllable _ai_, uttered several times in succession. From this they
derive one of their trivial names of Ai, or Ay-ay.

The sloths are all inhabitants of tropical America--dwellers in the
great forests of Guiana and Brazil.

As natural curiosities in the animal kingdom, the Armadilloes do not
yield to any of the four-footed creatures, and an account of their
habits, would space permit, could not be otherwise than extremely
interesting. They are exclusively inhabitants of America; but many
species, both in North and South America, are found far beyond the
limits of the torrid zone. There are a great many species known--and
these are of all sizes--from that of an ordinary rat, to the Giant
Tatou, which sometimes attains the enormous dimensions of a moderate
sized sheep! It may be mentioned that they are subdivided into a number
of genera, as the sloths, etcetera; and here, again, without any very
sufficient reason, since they all possess the scaly armour--from which
the name armadillo is derived--and their habits are nearly identical.
They dwell in burrows, which they make for themselves; in fact, they are
more than ordinarily clever at excavating, and have been blamed for
carrying their tunnels into graveyards, and feeding upon the bodies
there deposited! Of some of the species this charge is but too true;
and one would think that an animal of such habit would be regarded with
disgust. On the contrary, the flesh of the armadillo is in much esteem
as an article of food, both among the white colonists and the natives,
and men and dogs are employed in many parts of South America to procure
it for the table. Several species of armadilloes possess the power of
clueing themselves up, _a la hedgehog_, and thus presenting an
impenetrable front to the attacks of an enemy; while others want this
power, but, in its stead, can flatten their bodies along the ground, in
such a way that neither dog nor jaguar can set tooth