M O N K E Y. 



and limits is a clear brownish-yellow ; but the length 

 of it, and its curling into tufts, give it a mottled ap- 

 pearance. The head is wholly black, with a tinge of 

 purple. The portion covered with hair rather darker 

 than the naked part, and showing the ears with a 

 bold relief. The hair, which is turned forward on the 

 cheeks, is a little grisly at the points, and appears 

 like whiskers just beginning to turn grey ; while the 

 deep-set yellow eyes give it a very peculiar appear- 

 ance. The extremities are long and very slender ; 

 and the animal altogether has an expression of feeble- 

 ness. It is a native of the interior of Guiana, where 

 it is gregarious, living in troops ; and, like the rest, it 

 is a crepuscular animal. It is represented as being 

 particularly fond of bananas, guavas, and other sweet 

 fruits ; and as it is much more feeble in its body, and 

 mild in its aspect than the other members of the 

 genus, so it is represented as being far more gentle in 

 its disposition and quiet in its manners. 



Some other species of the genus Brachiurus have 

 been mentioned as occurring in the woods behind 

 Dcmerara, and some of these have been described as 

 very abundant in that part of America. One, the 

 Jacketed Monkey (B. sagulata), has been mentioned 

 as having a long club-shaped black tail, a black beard, 

 and the upper part of the body ochre-yellow. Other 

 markings, beside these, have been mentioned as 

 occurring in the cases of other individuals ; but we 

 ;ire not. inclined to set much value on those mere 

 differences of colour as being grounds of any thing of 

 importance in natural history. It is highly probable 

 that there may be many species still in the forests, of 

 which we are utterly ignorant ; but much research 

 will be required before their history can be cleared 

 up in a satisfactory manner. We therefore proceed 

 to the last division of the handed animals of America, 

 namely, those which have the fingers or toes armed 

 with strong nails. 



ARCTOPITHECI, or handed animals, which have the 

 nails resembling the claws of bears. Animals of this 

 description were formerly classed with the last-men- 

 tioned division, which have a slight approximation 

 to the present one in the form of the claws. They 

 have also been often described as a single genus by 

 those who have found enough of peculiarity in them 

 to warrant their separation from the rest. They have 

 acquired various names, of which jacchus or jacko mon- 

 keys, is perhaps one of the most common ; but in 

 strict propriety they admit of division into two genera, 

 the Oivistitis, properly so called, the (Jacchus) and the 

 Tmnarin (Midas}. 



. The leading characters of the whole, taken as one 

 little group of handed animals, are as follows : the 

 head rounded, the face flat ; the nostrils lateral ; no 

 callosities ; the tail not in the least prehensile ; only 

 five grinders in each side of each jaw, as the apes and 

 monkeys of the eastern continent have, and not six, 

 like the rest of the American ones. With the excep- 

 tion of the inner toes on the hind feet, which have 

 short and rather flat nails, the nails on all the others 

 are compressed, sharp pointed, considerably crooked, 

 and strong, so as to be capable of serving either for 

 climbing or for catching the prey, as may be necessary. 

 The thumbs or inner toes on the fore feet are so 

 little parted from the others, that this group cannot 

 with strict propriety be termed handed animals. They 

 climb by grasping with the foot, but then that foot 

 approaches the form of the feet of squirrels, and holds 

 on, in part at least, by means of the claws. But while 



the inner toe on the fore feet is thus nearly as long as 

 the rest, that of the hind foot is very short, so as to 

 be of little use for any purpose except that of pre- 

 serving their balance. The hind legs are in all the 

 species larger than the fore legs, a structure which 

 invariably indicates an animal having great dexterity 

 and power of leaping. Their tails are always longer 

 than the body , completely covered with hair, and 

 serving no known purpose save that of regulating 

 their motions or prolonging their leaps. The ears arc 

 large, membranous, and nearly naked ; the nostrils 

 are placed as in the other American groups ; the hair 

 on the body, which generally consists of good colours, 

 well contrasted with each other, is generally long and 

 exceedingly soft. It covers all parts of the body 

 except the head and the feet, upon both of which the 

 hair is very short and close. 



They live mostly in trees, as is the case with the more 

 characteristic quadrumana ; but they are without the 

 resources of the others, or, at least, most of them, whe- 

 ther of the eastern continent or of the western. They 

 are incapable of using the tail as a fifth hand, in the same 

 manner as the typical tree monkeys of America ; and 

 they are also without the resource which the quadru- 

 mana of the east derive from the callosities on their 

 buttocks. These callosities are curious appendages. 

 To common observation they seem no better than 

 excrescences, which actually disfigure the animals ; 

 but nothing can be more erroneous than any conclu- 

 sion of this kind respecting them. They are points 

 of support, composed of matter exactly similar to 

 those pads on the feet of hoofless animals, which 

 contribute so much, both to the safety and the sta- 

 bility of the owners ; and therefore, though the pre- 

 hensile tails of the western quadrumana make a more 

 showy appearance, it is not a very easy matter to 

 settle the question as to the real advantage of them 

 and the callosities of the eastern races compared with 

 each other. The prehensile tail is a fifth hand cer- 

 tainly ; but then, for stability, if not for motion, the 

 callosities of the others are equivalent to two feet. 



The little group under consideration are, as we 

 have said, destitute of both of these supplements to 

 the hands in other tree animals ; but they have their 

 compensation in the claws, and the extreme lightness 

 of their bodies, and thus they are enabled very speedily 

 and very safely to find their way to the tops of the most 

 lofty trees. In their action among the branches, in the 

 lightness of their bodies, the length of their tails, and in 

 various other respects, they resemble the squirrels much 

 more than any othergroup of animals ; and both groups 

 are perhaps lighter in proportion to the length of their 

 volume measured to the extremities than any other 

 of the mammalia. Of their manners in the wild 

 forests we know not much, but several individuals 

 have been kept alive in European collections. That 

 their mode of living is different from that of the 

 squirrels there is no doubt ; and they appear to be 

 animals of greater observation and resource than these 

 animals, lively as they are. The food of the tame 

 ones consists both of animal and vegetable matter ; of 

 the former they prefer insects and very small birds, 

 and of the latter sweet fruits. They were fond of 

 looking at themselves in glasses ; and they seemed 

 readily to distinguish between friends and foes, even 

 when only their representations in the glass appeared. 

 Of the appearance of a cat they were very unfond. 

 This might have been expected, because the tree cats 

 of America are, in all probability, the most formidable 



