THE SAKIS. 89 



and the like. Travelers are sometimes compelled to eat the flesh, to 

 their disgust at first. " Nothing can be more repugnant than the sight 

 of such a repast," writes Schomburgk; "it looks as it one was a guest at 

 a cannibal banquet where a child was the chief dish." They are spitted 

 and roasted whole. 



THE SAKIS. 



The sub-family Pithecinae is the next division of the American Apes, 

 and embraces those genera in which the tail is covered with hair and 

 is incapable of grasping anything, or coiling round a branch. 



The apes of this sub-family, or Sakis, have a compact figure which 

 appears thicker than it really is, owing to the long and dense covering 

 of hair ; the limbs are strong, the tail bushy and usually with very long 

 hair down to the end. The hair on the top of the head is thick and parted 

 in the middle ; that on the cheeks and chin grows into a strong beard of 

 less or greater length. They are distinguished by the dental structure: 

 the three-cornered canine teeth are separated from the incisors, which 

 are pressed closely together, fine at the points, and inclined towards 

 each other. 



The habitat of the few members of this group is confined to the 

 northern part of South America. They dwell in high, dry woods free 

 from brush, and avoid other species of apes. They are called by Tschudi 

 twilight animals, whose active life begins at sundown and continues to 

 sunrise. Schomburgk, however, states that his personal observations con- 

 tradict this account of their nocturnal habits. " Wherever the foliage 

 was thick I found herds of apes, in which the Pitliccia formed the greatest 

 number ; their long, graceful hair, the dignified beard, and the bushy 

 fox-tail give these creatures a pleasant, but laughable appearance." 



VI.— GENUS PITHECIA. 



The name Saki, often applied to all the apes of the sub-family, be- 

 longs more properly to the second species described below. 



The animals of the genus Pithccia bear much resemblance to the 

 CcbincB ; they live on fruits and insects, and are very partial to honey, 

 being always on the lookout for the hives of wild bees. The Sapajous, 

 12 



