AMERICAN MONKEYS. 145 



which there is not the slightest fear of its being confounded. Then, again, 

 all the monkeys of the New World are characterised by the absence of cheek- 

 pouches; so that whenever we see a monkey cramming nuts into his cheeks, 

 we may be perfectly sure that he does not come from America. It is true, indeed, 

 that this absence of cheek-pouches will not help us to distinguish an American 

 monkey from an Indian langur or an African thumbless monkey, but then both 

 the latter have naked callosities on the buttocks. Moreover, if we were to dissect 



THE RED-FACED SPIDER-MONKEY (^ nat. size). 



an American monkey, we should find that it had a simple stomach, quite different 

 from the sacculated one which characterises the langurs and thumbless monkeys. 



Another peculiarity of some, although unfortunately not all, of the American 

 monkeys is that the tail is prehensile, and capable of being coiled round a bough so 

 as to form a most efficient aid in climbing. These prehensile tails are characteristic 

 only of the howlers and the spider-monkeys, and their kin ; the tails of the titis and 

 their allies being non-prehensile, like those of the Old World monkeys. The 

 reader may note, however, that whenever he sees a monkey swinging suspended by 

 its tail, he may at once put that animal down as an American. 



Regarding this peculiar organ of the spider - monkey, Charles Waterton, 

 VOL. i. 10 



