700 NATURAL HISTORY. 



insects, birds, eggs, and fruit. Some inhabit the virgin forests, while others 

 prefer the plains in the neighborhood of the habitations of man. The 

 Indians shoot them with poisoned arrows, and afterwards restore them 

 with salt, or catch them in cages and traps. Besides being kept as pets by 

 the Indians, they are, together with other monkeys, used as food. This 

 may at first seem a depraved taste, and we cannot forbear a short extract 

 from the rjages of Ha^ckel, which, though written of another form, is equally 

 applicable to all. " Among the dainties I have mentioned above as the 

 result of my sport, I spoke of monkeys," says the great Jena naturalist. 

 " I found this noble game excellent eating, either fresh and baked, or 

 pickled in vinegar ; and I began to suspect that cannibalism was, in fact, 

 a refined form of gourmandise." 



Besides the marmosets — they are also called uistitis and sagouins — 

 South America nourishes a long series of monkeys, — the titis, couxios, 

 uakaris, — which are of too little interest to occupy more space than is 

 necessary to say that their names are of Indian origin. The howlers are 

 more important, for they form a part of every picture of tropical America. 

 Every traveler up the Amazon or the Orinoco devotes pages to them, and 

 tells how every night and morning the forest resounds with their loud 

 voices, and how the whole chorus has a leader, who directs their vocal 

 performances. They can be heard for miles ; and an examination of their 

 throat structure reveals a peculiar apparatus for producing a noise. 

 Besides well-developed vocal cords, the windpipe has large sacs — sounding- 

 boards in function — which tend to strengthen the sound, so that the 

 loudest noise is made with comparatively little effort. They move in large 

 bodies through the woods, passing from tree to tree in a regular follow- 

 my-leader style, and in these journeys the tail is almost as useful as the 

 hands or feet ; for it can be coiled around a branch tightly enough to sup- 

 port the weight of the animal, and not infrequently the hold will be 

 retained long after the animal has died from the effects of a gunshot. In 

 confinement they are not interesting; for they never become tame, and 

 -always retain a surly disposition, no matter how kindly they may be 

 treated. Some of the howlers are the largest of the New- World monkeys, 

 the black howler having the body twenty-eight inches long. 



The sapajous have the same prehensile tail as the howlers, but they 

 lack the complex vocal apparatus. They are far more interesting in con- 

 finement than the others ; and as they bear constraint and a cold climate 

 well, they are among the most common inhabitants of menageries and 

 zoological gardens. They are very intelligent, the capuchin leading all 

 the rest in this respect, and showing a degree of understanding almost 

 human. In captivity this species is constantly engaged in investigation, 



