436 QUADRUMANA. 



in the disposition and character of their teeth, which are more or less studded 

 with sharp points, indicative of their appetite for insects. Their muzzle is 

 lengthened and pointed, their nostrils are terminal, their feet thick and soft ; 

 and they are further distinguishable by having the nail of the forefinger of 

 their posterior hands raised and sharp-pointed, while the nails of the other 

 hands are flat. They are all very active, and have been named Fox Monkeys r 

 on account of the shape of their heads. The Lemurs, properly so called, ex- 

 clusively inhabit the island of Madagascar, where they seem to take the place 

 of the real monkeys. They live upon fruits and small animals, and some of 

 them are trained to hunt like dogs. 



The Sloth. Monkeys (Stcnops* tardigradus'Y) have acquired their name from 

 the extreme slowness of their movements. They are nocturnal in their habits, living 

 upon insects and small birds, which they approach stealthily in the dark. They in- 

 habit the East Indies. 



The Marmozets (Hapale) * constitute a little group peculiar to the New 

 World. They are small, agreeable-looking animals, with a round head, flat 

 face, lateral nostrils, and a bushy tail, which is not prehensile. On their an- 

 terior extremities their thumbs are scarcely opposable to their other fingers, 

 and all their digits, except the thumb of the posterior extremities, are armed 

 with compressed nails pointed like claws. By the aid of these nails they 

 climb trees like squirrels, for the conformation of their hands does not per- 

 mit them to seize hold of branches like monkeys. 



The Monkeys of the American continent are distinguished by 

 having four more teeth than those of the Old World, making 

 thirty-six in all ; their tail is long, they have no cheek-pouches, 

 the hinder part of their body is hairy and unprovided with cal- 

 losities, and their nostrils are' situated at the sides of the nose, 

 not beneath it. They inhabit vast forests, and climb the trees 

 with most surprising agility. Their lengthy tail serves them as 

 a balancing-pole, wherewith to keep their equilibrium while leap- 

 ing, and some possess the power of wrapping its extremity round 

 objects, and holding them with so tenacious a grasp that the 

 animal can thus suspend itself from the branches as with a fifth 

 hand. According to the difference of the conformation of the 

 tail, the monkeys of America are divided into two principal 

 groups 



1. Those that have the tail prehensile, or capable of being 

 twisted round an object, so as to seize it as with a hand, distin- 

 guished by the name of Sapajous or Capuchin Monkeys 

 (Cebus); 



2. Those in which the tail is not at all prehensile, constituting 

 the family of Sakis (Pithcda). 



To the former division belong 



The Howling Monkeys (Mycetes) , which, from a peculiar conforma- 



* srev&s, stenos, narrow; 6\f/, ops, a face: narrow-faced, f Tardus, slow; gradior,. 

 / walk : slow-walking. + a7ra\6s, hapalos, soft. /nvKrjT'fis, mycetes, a follower. 



