158 APES AND MONKEYS. 



animals are more grey. Another form, which has been regarded as a distinct 

 species by some zoologists, differs from the above variety in having grey fur on the 

 head. Mr. Bates states that both these monkeys live together in the same places, 

 and are probably only differently coloured individuals of one and the same species. 

 In one of the largest examples obtained by that traveller, the length of the head 

 and body was 27, and that of the tail 26 inches ; these dimensions only being 

 exceeded among the American monkeys by the black howler, whose head and body 

 may measure 30 inches in length. 



Mr. Bates observes that in Humboldt's lagothrix the skin of the face " is black 

 and wrinkled, the forehead is low, with the eyebrows projecting; and, in short, the 

 features altogether resemble, in a striking manner, those of an old negro. In the 

 forests the barrigudo is not a very active animal ; it lives exclusively on fruits, and 

 is much persecuted by the Indians, on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. 

 From information given me by a collector of birds and mammals, whom I employed, 

 and who resided a long time among the Tucana Indians, near Tabatinga, I cal- 

 culated that one horde of this tribe, two hundred in number, destroyed twelve 

 hundred of these monkeys annually for food. The species is very numerous in the 

 forests of the higher lands, but owing to long persecution, it is now seldom seen in 

 the neighbourhood of the larger villages. It is not found at all on the Lower 

 Amazon. Its manners in captivity are grave, and its temper mild and confiding, 

 like that of the coaitas [spider-monkeys]. Owing to these traits the barrigudo is 

 much sought after for pets ; but it is not hardy like the coaitas, and seldom survives 

 a passage down the river to Para." 



From the account given by Mr. Bates as to the partiality displayed by the 

 Indians of the Upper Amazon for this monkey as an article of food, it would seem 

 that it is the one referred to in Humboldt's narrative of the roasted monkeys at 

 Esmeraldas, quoted on p. 149. 



THE WOOLLY SPIDER-MONKEYS. 

 Genus Eriodes. 



The woolly spider-monkeys form a kind of connecting link between the woolly 

 monkeys on the one hand, and the true spider-monkeys on the other ; having the 

 woolly under-fur of the former, but the slender build of the latter, while their 

 thumbs are rudimentary. They differ, however, from both in that their nails are 

 extremely compressed from side to side, and sharply pointed at the ends ; while the 

 partition between the nostrils is narrower. 



Not much appears to be known of these monkeys, which have never been 

 represented in the collection of the Zoological Society. They are confined to South- 

 East Brazil ; and have been divided into three species, mainly according to the 

 degree of development of the thumb. The late Dr. Gray was, however, of opinion 

 that these are merely varieties of a single species (Eriodes arachnoides), since 

 some individuals have a rudiment of a thumb on one hand and not a trace of one 

 on the other. In the typical variety, as represented in our illustration, the general 

 colour is ashy brown, often tending to ferruginous at the base of the root of the 



