30 THE MAEIMONDA. 



tail. With such singularly delicate seuse of touch is it furnished that 

 it almost seems to be possessed of the power of sight, and moves about 

 among the branches with as much decision as if there were an eye in its 

 tip. Should the monkey discover some prize, such as a nest of eggs, or 

 any little dainty, which lies in a crevice too small for the hand to enter, 

 it is in nowise disconcerted, but inserts the end of its tail into the cranny, 

 and hooks out the desired object. 



There is a beautiful formation of the tail of this creature, by means 

 of which the grasp of that member retains its hold even after the death 

 of the owner. If a Spider Monkey be mortally wounded and not killed 

 outright, it curls its tail round a branch, and thus suspended yields up 

 its life. The tail does not lose its grasp when the life has departed ; 

 and the dead monkey hangs with its head downward until decomposi- 

 tion sets in and the rigid muscles are relaxed. 



The Coaita is by no means a large animal, measuring very little more 

 than a foot from the nose to the root of the tail, while the tail itself is 

 two feet in length. Its color is very dark and glossy — so dark, indeed, 

 as to be almost black. The hair varies much in length and density. 

 On the back and the outside of the limbs it hangs in long drooping 

 locks, forming a thick covering through which the skin cannot be seen. 

 But on the abdomen the hair is quite scanty, and is so thinly scattered 

 that the skin is plainly visible. The skin of the face is of a dark cop- 

 per color. 



Another example of this wonderful group of monkeys is found in the 

 IVIarimonda, an inhabitant, like the last-named animal, of Central 

 America, and found in greatest numbers in Spanish Guiana, where, 

 according to Humboldt, it fills the place of the Coaita. 



The general shape, the formation of its limbs, and the long prehen- 

 sile tail, point it out at once as another of the Spider Monkeys. This 

 is certainly a very appropriate name for these animals. Their heads 

 are so small, their bodies so short, their limbs so slender, and their tails 

 so limb-like, that the mind unconsciously draws a parallel between these 

 monkeys and the long-legged spiders that scuttle so awkwardly over 

 the ground, and are so indifferent respecting their complement of 

 legs. 



The resemblance holds good even when the monkey is at rest, or 

 when it only appears before the eye in an illustration. But when the 

 creature begins to walk on level ground, and especially if it be hur- 

 ried, its clumsy movements are so very spider-like that the similitude 

 is ten times more striking. Be it remarked that both creatures are 

 supposed to be placed in uncongenial circumstances. The spider is 

 deft and active enough among the many threads of its air-suspended 

 nets, as is the monkey among the slight twigs of the air-bathed branches. 

 But when both animals are subjected to circumstances which are di- 



