THE SAKIS. 



87 



rounded with a thick and closely-set fringe of white hair, which is rather short in the male, 

 but long and drooping in the female. The top of the head is of a deep black, and the 

 remainder of the body and tail is covered with very long and rather coarse hair of a blackish- 

 brown. Under the chin and throat the hairs are almost entirely absent, and the skin is of an 

 orange hue. 



Beside the difference of length in the facial hairs of the female Yarke, there are several 

 distinctions between the sexes, which are so decided as to have caused many naturalists to 

 consider the male and female to belong to different species. The hair of the female Yarke is 

 decorated near the tip with several rings of a rusty brown color, while the hair of the male is 

 entirely devoid of these marks. 



The natural food of these animals is said to consist chiefly of wild bees and their honey- 

 combs. Perhaps the long furry hair with which the Sakis are covered, may be useful for the 



BLACK YARKE. Pitheda Uucocephala. 



purpose of defending them from the stings of the angry insects. On account of the full and 

 bushy tail with w y hich the members of this group are furnished, they are popularly classed 

 together under the title of Fox-tailed Monkeys. 



The two animals which have just been noticed are marked by such decided peculiarities 

 of form and color that they can easily be distinguished from any other monkeys. The Cuxio 

 is known by its black beard and parted hair, the Black Yarke by its dark body and white 

 head-fringe, while the CACAJAO is conspicuous by reason of its black head and short tail. 



When this animal was first discovered, it was thought that the tail had been docked 

 either by some accident, or by the teeth of the monkey itself, as is the custom with so many 

 of the long-tailed monkeys of the Old World. But the natives of the country where it lives 

 assert that its brevity of tail is a distinctive character of the species. Indeed, among the 

 many names which have been given to the Cacajao, one of them, "Mono Rabon," or short- 

 tailed Mono, refers to this peculiarity. On account of the very short tail, and the general 

 aspect of the animal, the Cacajao is supposed by some naturalists to be the American repre- 

 sentative of the Magot. 



The head of the creature is not only remarkable for its black hue, but for its shape, which, 

 instead of being rounded, as is the case with most monkeys, is slightly flattened at the 

 temples. The general color of the fur is a bright yellowish-brown, the only exceptions being 

 the head and the fore-paws, which are black. The ears are devoid of hair, are very large in 

 proportion to the size of the animal, and have something of the human character about them. 



