Abstract
IN a note upon the above subject, dated December 29, 1875, which appeared in vol. xiii. p 187 of NATURE, I omitted to quote a passage from a letter written by Dr. Berthuld Seemann to the late Dr. J. E. Gray (dated April 1, 1871), with regard to a specimen of Arctopithocus of a well-marked green colour, obtained by the former naturalist in Nicaragua. Of this Sloth he says, inter alia:—“It should be borne in mind that it has almost exactly the same greyish-green colour as Tillandsia usneoidcs, the so-called ‘vegetable horsehair’ common in the district; and if it could be shown that it frequented trees covered with that plant (a point I hope to ascertain during my next visit in June next), there would be a curious case of mimicry between this Sloth's hair and the Tillandsia, and a good reason why so few of these sloths are seen.” (Note on the species of Bradypodida in the British Museum, by Dr. J, E. Gray, F.R.S., Proc. Zool. Soc., May 2, 1871.) It would be interesting to know whether Dr. Seeman succeeded in solving this question; I am, however, not aware of any later reference made by him to this subject.
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GALTON, J. Protective Resemblance in the Sloths. Nature 14, 91 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/014091b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/014091b0
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