6 PRIMATES. 
an hour passes but the discordant cry of the Mono strikes upon the ear of the 
traveller as he threads the lonely path to Peten. The elevation of this district varies 
from about 700 to 3000 feet ; and the Mycetes is found at all heights. While travelling 
through this forest in 1862 I was entirely dependent upon my gun for the animal food 
to supply my party of Indians; and Monos contributed not a little to the larder. The 
Indians eat Monkey without demur; but the meat looks dark and untempting. For 
my own part I far preferred the delicate Tinamou or Curassow, a sufficient supply of 
which never failed for my own consumption. Perhaps there is no district in Vera Paz 
where Monos are more abundant than the mountains of Chilasco, a cold and damp 
region, elevated at least 6000 feet above the sea, but where the forest-growth is of the 
densest description and trees of the largest size abound. It was here that Mr. Godman 
and I obtained the specimens which are now in the British Museum, The wonderful 
cry whence Mycetes gets its trivial name of Howling Monkey is certainly most striking ; 
and I have sometimes endeavoured to ascertain how far this cry may be heard. It has 
taken me an hour or more to thread the forest-undergrowth, from the time when the 
cry first struck my ear to when, guided by the cry alone, I stood under the tree where 
the animals were. It would certainly not be overestimating the distance to say two 
miles. When the sound came over the Lake of Yzabal unhindered by trees, a league 
would be more like the distance at which the Mono’s cry may be heard. These animals 
are found in small companies of five or six. They are usually met with in the upper 
branches of the highest trees, and, when disturbed, crawl sluggishly along the 
boughs. The young, as well as the females, are of the same dense black as the old 
males, but the hair is shorter and less glossy.” 
The Plate is drawn from one of the above-mentioned specimens now in the British 
Museum. 
2. ATELES. 
Sapajou, Lacépéde, Mém. de l’Inst. Nat. iii. p. 489 (1801)*. 
Ateles, Et. Geoffroy, Ann. du Mus. vii. p. 260 (1806). 
The Spider-Monkeys form a very well-marked group, recognizable at a glance by 
their short bodies, their greatly elongated limbs and tail, and by their fore paws, in 
which the thumb is either entirely absent, or (in varieties of two of the species) 1 18 
represented on one or both hands by an insignificant rudiment. 
Much difference of opinion has existed as to the number of species of Spider- 
Monkeys, which, indeed, form one of the most puzzling groups the zoologist can meet 
with. All the Ateles agree so closely in structure, and some of them vary so greatly 
in colour, that it is extremely difficult to determine whether certain forms are merely 
the extremes of a graduated series, or are distinct though closely allied species. After 
a careful study of all the specimens accessible to me, I recognize four species as natives of 
* See footnote to page 3. 
