CEBID& 7 1 5 



Bates's Naturalist on the Amazons: "They sleep all day long in 

 hollow trees, and come forth to prey on insects and eat fruit only 

 in the night. They are of small size, the body being about a foot 

 long, and the tail 14 inches, and are thickly clothed with soft gray 

 and brown fur, similar in substance to that of the Rabbit. Their 

 physiognomy reminds one of the Owl or Tiger-Cat; the face is 

 rounded and encircled by a ruff of whitish fur ; the muzzle is not 

 at all prominent ; the mouth and chin are small ; the ears are very 

 short, scarcely appearing above the hair of the head; and the eyes 

 are large and yellowish in colour, imparting the staring expression 

 of nocturnal birds of prey. The forehead is whitish, and decorated 

 with black stripes, which in one of the species (N. trivirgatus) 

 continue to the crown, and in the other (N. felinus) meet on the 

 top of the forehead. N. trivirgatus was first described by Humboldt, 

 who discovered it on the banks of the Cassiquiare, near the head- 

 quarters of the Rio Negro." 



Subfamily Cebinse. Lower incisors vertical ; hyoid bone 

 normal ; tail long and prehensile ; pollex present or absent. 



This subfamily includes the typical members of the family, 

 which are arranged in four genera. 



Ateles. 1 Form slender ; limbs very long ; fur not woolly ; 

 pollex absent ; tail naked beneath distally ; nails not much laterally 

 compressed and pointed. 



This genus includes the well-known Spider Monkeys (Fig. 341), 

 which by their long limbs and tail are admirably adapted to a 

 purely arboreal life, although they lack the active and agile habits 

 of the Old World Gibbons. The tail with the under surface of its 

 extremity naked affords the most completely prehensile type of 

 this organ, and can sustain the weight of the whole body. 

 Objects are not unfrequently grasped by it and brought within 

 reach of the hand or mouth. Owing to the absence of the pollex 

 the power of grasping is very imperfect in the hand. At least 

 fourteen species of this genus have been described, among the 

 best-known being A. melanochir (Fig. 341), A. paniscus of Guiana, 

 A. geoffroyi of Central America, A, ater of Eastern Peru, and 

 A. hybridus of Colombia. 



Eriodes. 2 Form slender ; limbs very long ; fur woolly ; inter- 

 nasal septum narrower than usual in the family; pollex rudimentary; 

 tail naked beneath distally ; nails exceedingly compressed laterally, 

 and pointed. 



This genus is represented by three species from South -East 

 Brazil, which, while closely allied to the true Spider Monkeys, 

 differ by their woolly hair, the narrow internasal septum, the 

 presence of a rudimentary pollex, and the great compression of the 



1 Geoffrey, Ann. du Museum, vol. vii. p. 260 (1806). 

 2 I. Geoffroy, Diet. Class, vol. xv. p. 443 (1829). 



