THE AMERICAN MONKEYS 



may note, however, that whenever he sees a monkey swinging suspended by its tail, 

 he may at once put that animal down as an American. 



Regarding this peculiar organ of the spider-monkey, Charles Waterton, who 

 traveled so much in South America, writes as follows : ' ' This prehensile tail is a 

 most curious thing. It has been denominated, very appropriately, a fifth hand. 

 It is of manifest advantage to the animal, either when sitting in repose on the 

 branch of a tree, or when in its journey onward in the gloomy recesses of the 

 wilderness. You may see this monkey catching hold of the branches with its 

 hands, and at the same moment twisting its tail round one of them, as if in want 

 of additional support ; and this prehensile tail is sufficiently strong to hold the 

 animal in its place, even when all its four limbs are detached from the tree, so that 

 it can swing to and fro, and 

 amuse itself, solely through 

 the instrumentality of its pre- 

 hensile tail, which, by the 

 way, would be of no manner 

 of use to it did accident or 

 misfortune force the monkey 

 to take up a temporarj^ abode 

 on the ground. For several 

 inches from the extremity, by 

 nature and by constant use, 

 this tail has assumed some- 

 what the appearance of the 

 inside of a man's finger, being 

 entirely denuded of hair or 

 fur underneath, but not so on 

 the upper part." 



A more important feature 

 of the American monkeys, as 

 being common to the whole of 

 them, is the great width of 

 the vertical partition between ^ 

 the two nostrils, of which - 

 mention has already been i: 

 made. This broad partition 

 causes the end of the ndse to 

 be much expanded ; and a 

 comparison of any of our full- 

 faced figures of the New 



World monkeys with those of the Old will show what a marked difference there is 

 in this respect between the two groups. 



Another characteristic which we must not omit to notice is that in those of the 

 American monkeys which are furnished with a thumb, this digit cannot be opposed 

 to the other digits of the hand. The American monkeys agree, however, with their 



TYPICAL SPIDER-MONKEYS. 



