156 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



on the crown of the head forming a single central crest of a more or less conical 

 shape. The general color of the fur is bright red, with a black spot on the top of 

 the crown, and the limbs and tail blackish. 



THE WOOLLY MONKEYS 

 Genus Lagothrix 



The woolly monkeys are best known by Humboldt's lagothrix {Lagothrix 

 humboldti}, first discovered by the traveler whose name it bears on the Orinoco, but 

 also common in the upper part of the valley of the Amazon. This species, which is 

 represented in our illustration, is the only one we shall describe, although three or 

 four others are recognized by many zoologists. 



The woolly monkeys take their name from the thick coat of woolly fur which 

 is found beneath the longer hairs. This is one of the points by which they are dis- 

 tinguished from the sapajous. A more important point of difference is, however, to 

 be found in the naked skin on the under part of the end of the tail a character- 

 istic in which these monkeys resemble those of the next two genera. The woolly 

 monkeys have, however, the same robust build as the sapajous, and thereby differ 

 from the other members of this group of genera. They have well-developed 

 thumbs. The great length of the tail in the woolly monkeys, together with its 

 naked tip, render it a prehensile organ of the most perfect type. 



To the Portuguese colonists of Brazil these animals are known as Macaco Bar- 

 rigudo, frequently abbreviated into Barrigudo ; the full name signifying ' ' big-bellied 

 monkey," and being applied to them in allusion to their bulky build, as contrasted 

 with the slender form of their cousins, the spider-monkeys. The ordinary form of 

 Humboldt's lagothrix has a general blackish-gray color, with the head, chest, under 

 parts, and tail, black. The individual hairs are dark gray, with very short black 

 tips, on those parts of the body which are not black. Younger animals are more 

 gray. Another form, which has been regarded as a distinct species by some zoolo- 

 gists, differs from* the above variety in having gray fur on the head. Mr. Bates 

 states that both these monkeys live together in the same places, and are probably 

 only differently colored individuals of one and the same species. In one of the 

 largest examples obtained by that traveler, the length of the head and body was 

 twenty-seven and that of the tail twenty-six inches ; these dimensions being ex- 

 ceeded among the American monkeys only by the black howler, whose head and 

 body may measure thirty inches in length. 



Mr. Bates observes that in Humboldt's lagothrix the skin of the face "is black 

 and wrinkled, the forehead is low, with the eyebrows projecting ; and, in short, the 

 features altogether resemble, in a striking manner, those of an old negro. In the 

 forests the barrigudo is not a very active animal; it lives exclusively on fruits, 

 and is much persecuted by the Indians, on account of the excellence of its flesh as 

 food. From information given me by a collector of birds and mammals, whom I 

 employed, and who resided a long time among the Tucana Indians, near Tabatinga, 



