ai, aie

[Dut. & Ger. ei = an egg.] An egg. 1, s . [Ger. & Fr. ai . A word framed by the South American Indians to imitate the plaintive cry of the animal which they called Ai.] A species of sloth, the Bradypus tridactyl us of Linnæus. As its name imports, it has but three toes, or rather nails, on each foot, in this respect differing from the Unau ( Bradypus didactyl us, Linn.), which has but two. It is of the order Edentata, or toothle mammals. It is the only known species of its cla which has as many as nine cervical vertebræ, seven being the normal number. It is about the size of a cat. The tail is very short. The limbs also are short, but exceedingly muscular. It clings with extraordinary tenacity to the branches of trees. It is pre-eminent even among sloths for sluggishne . Its apathy is on a par with its inertne . Its practice is to strip a tree completely bare before it can prevail upon itself to put forth the exertion requisite to enable it to roll itself into a ball, fall to the ground, and climb another tree. It inhabits America from Brazil to Mexico.