PRIMATES-APES AND LEMURS 405 



any other kind of Monkey the companions of the wandering 

 Italian organ-grinders and accordion-players that haunt our 

 suburban streets and country towns. In captivity they are docile, 

 gentle creatures, and have rather human, inquisitive faces, and 

 when pleased give vent to little cooing, chirruping sounds. The 

 face is round, the muzzle but slightly projecting, and the tail is 

 not so prehensile as in the Howlers and Spider Monkeys. They 

 are arboreal in their habits, feeding upon fruits, insects, and robbing 

 birds' nests, devouring the eggs and nestlings. They are wonder- 

 fully active, leaping from branch to branch with the greatest 

 speed and agility. 



The Spider Monkeys (Ateles) have small heads, long necks, 

 and exceedingly long arms, legs and tails ; some are covered with 

 a soft fur, and in others it is harsh, and the hairs are long and 

 rigid ; all have the thumbs of the hands either absent or just visible 

 as slight projections. The feet are long and have well-shaped toe- 

 thumbs. The activity of these Monkeys is marvellous, as they swing 

 from bough to bough through the dense forests, their long hairy 

 arms and legs giving them a strange appearance suggestive of 

 some great spectral long-legged spiders. Bates, who observed 

 them during his wanderings on the Amazon, both in the forests 

 and as captive pets, describes them as very intelligent, sociable 

 creatures. 



The Apes of the Old World differ from those of the New World 

 in many points. The tail, where present, is never prehensile, the 

 nostrils are not wide apart but open in front, and, as already stated, 

 give to these Old World Primates the name Catarrhine ; cheek- 

 pouches may or may not be present, and many have curious, 

 sometimes large and vividly coloured, callosities on their hind- 

 quarters. 



The Baboons (Cynocephalus) have a dog-shaped head, a long 

 muzzle, and a curious fullness on either side of the long nose, which 

 gives them a very characteristic appearance. Their eyes are close 

 together and are deeply set, their ears are moderately large, and 

 the neck is rather long. When resting, the favourite position is 

 squatting on their hind-quarters in rather a dog-like manner. 

 They trot and canter, but rarely leap or bound over the ground, 

 and scramble and climb up rocks with considerable agility. They 

 have cheek-pouches, and the characteristic, often vividly coloured, 



