5. On the Placentation of the Sloths

Extract

After referring to the paucity of information on the placental characters of the sloths, and to the various inferences which had been drawn by anatomists from Carus's figure of the placenta of Bradypus tridactylus, some holding that it was cotyledonary and non-deciduate, others that it might have intermingled with it maternal deciduous substance, the author proceeded to describe his dissection of the perfectly fresh gravid uterus of a specimen of a two-toed sloth. This specimen, which was presented to him by Dr David Ridpath, only possessed six cervical vertebrae, and was referred to the Cholœpus Hoffmanni of Peters.