THE WOOLLY MONKEYS. 22\ 



of the hare, and hence this name, from Xayw?, a hare, and Opt^, 

 rpX^os, hair, was adopted for the new genus, which was after- 

 wards estabhshed by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. 



The hair of the crown is short and directed backwards ; the 

 tail is long and perfectly prehensile, bjing naked and sensitive 

 for a considerable distance back from the tip. The limbs are 

 moderately long, and the thumb and great-toe are well deve- 

 loped, the nails of the digits being compressed and pointed. 



In regard to the skeleton, the skull of Lagothrix^ as Dr. 

 Slack points out, can be readily distinguished from that of the 

 Capuchins by a broad, well-marked, articulation taking place 

 between the pre-maxillary and the nasal bones at right angles 

 to the suture between the latter, while in the Capuchins no 

 true articulation takes place between these bones. The lower 

 jaw is larger than in Cebus, approaching the size and form of 

 Mycetes. The incisor teeth are small and unequal, the upper 

 inner incisor being the largest ; the canines are very large and 

 grooved in front. 



The Woolly Monkeys are slow in motion, gregarious, diur- 

 nal, and arboreal. The " Barrigudos," as they are called by 

 the Portuguese colonists, live exclusively on fruits, and are 

 larger and less active than the Capuchins. They are confmed 

 to the forests of the Ecuador district of the Upper Amazon 

 Valley, and along the slopes of the Andes, north to Venezuela 

 and south to Bolivia. 



They are of a mild disposition, and, as Mr. Wallace remarks, 

 they are the species " most frequently seen in confinement, 

 and are great favourites, from their grave countenances, which 

 resemble the human face more than those of any other Mon- 

 keys, their quiet manners, and the great affection and docility 

 they exhibit." 



