MYCETES OR ALOUATTA 



and to allow of a ready loosening of the grip ; an oppos- 

 able thumb does not aid in this manoeuvre. The 

 Coaitas, as the native American name of the monkeys 

 runs, are peaceful in disposition, but eminently thievish 

 in habit, and therefore less suitable as pets than 

 might be presumed from the great numbers that are 

 kept as pets in Central America. On the other hand, 

 there is at least one spider monkey which has been 

 described as very fierce. The spider monkey, or at 

 least a spider monkey, is roasted and eaten ; as it 

 presents, when dressed for the table, a horrible resem- 

 blance to a black baby, it is usual to lessen this likeness 

 by cutting off the head and hands. The flavour of the 

 flesh is beefy, not veal-like. The hint of cannibalism 

 involved in dining off monkey is tempered by the fact 

 that the creatures are very largely, but not absolutely, 

 vegetarian in habit. Von Humboldt suggested that can- 

 nibalism may have commenced in an evolutionary way 

 with this " simiophagy," or at least that it may have 

 contributed to lessen the initial shock which would be 

 caused by serving up man as a piece de resistance at a 

 banquet. Probably, however, cannibalism is not a 

 single phenomenon ; there are, we are inclined to think, 

 two kinds ; the one a religious ceremony, the other 

 purely gastronomic. 



THE HOWLER 



The howling monkeys are Platyrrhine, and thus 

 necessarily South American monkeys which have been 

 placed in the genus Mycetes, or, as it is sometimes 

 called, Alouatta, a barbarous word, which is, however, 

 older than the more correct .My cetes. They are called 

 howlers not merely because it is their name, as in so 

 many creatures with non-descriptive appellations, but 

 because they do howl and awake the echoes of American 



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