FOSSIL AMERICAN MONKEYS. 



187 



Mantled Howler. 



northerly regions of Brazil are rufous or ferruginous in colour, while the females 

 and those from the more southern regions are brown or blackish-brown. This 

 species is very closely allied to the red howler. 



In Costa Rica, and probably also in other districts of Central 

 xVmerica, the howling monkeys are represented by a very well- 

 marked species, known as the mantled howler (M. palliatus). This animal is 

 characterised by the presence of a fringe of long brownish-yellow hair running 

 along the lower part of the flanks, so as to form a kind of mantle on each 

 side of the body. The general colour of the fur is blackish -brown, the hairs 

 on the middle of the back, as well as on the upper parts of the sides, being 

 yellowish-brown, with black tips. 



FOSSIL AMEEICAN MONKEYS. 



In previous chapters we have seen how all the fossil monkeys of the Old World 

 are more or less closely allied to the recent monkeys of that half of the 

 globe, none of them showing any signs of closer 

 affinity with their western cousins. The same holds 

 good with regard to the extinct monkeys which have 

 left their remains in the great caverns of Brazil, or 

 in the fresh-water superficial deposits which cover 

 such large areas of country in Argentina and other 

 parts of South America ; all these belonging either to 

 existing genera, and in some cases even species, of 

 American monkeys, or to extinct types of the same 

 great family. 



At the time when the huge ground-sloths known 

 as megatheres and mylodons roamed over the pampas 

 of South America, the forests of Brazil re-echoed as 

 now with the cries of howling monkeys, apparently 

 identical with the species still living ; while titis and 

 sapajous are known to have existed at the same 



epoch, and remains of other living genera will doubtless also be found in the same 

 deposits, which belong to what geologists term the Pleistocene period. At the same 

 time, with these existing genera there also lived a totally extinct genus of monkeys, 

 known by the name of Protopiihecus. These monkeys appear to have been nearly 

 related to the modern howlers, but were considerably larger than any living 

 American monkey. In Argentina and Patagonia remains of monkeys, apparently 

 belonging to this family, occur in much older strata, which have been correlated 

 with the Eocene rocks of Europe. Marmosets are likewise represented in the 

 superficial South American deposits. 



UPPER AND SIDE VIEWS OF LOWER JAW 

 OF AMERICAN TERTIARY MONKEY 



(Homunculus.) After Ameghino. 



