212 THE NATURAL HISTOET OP 



THE COAITA. 



Ateles paniscus GEOFTROY. 

 PLATE XX. 



Simla paniscus, Linnaeus. Coaita, Buffon. Foui-fingered 

 monkey, Pennant Ateles paniscus, Geoffrey Saint Hilaire y 

 Annales du Museum^ xix. p. 105 \Desmarest, Mammalogie, 

 p. 73 ; Humboldt, Observations de Zoologie, i. p. 352 Le 

 Coaita, Frederic Cuvier, Histoire Naturelle des Mammi- 

 feres. 



THIS curious monkey, apparently possessing all the 

 exterior necessaries for great activity, is nevertheless, 

 Frederic Cuvier remarks, one of the most sluggish. It 

 moves with slowness, and, as it were, with a dragging 

 motion. The limbs are placed in the necessary posi- 

 tions with deliberation, and as if every movement 

 ' required a fresh exercise of thought to determine their 

 position. The tail is constantly made use of, and is 

 never relieved from one object until the feet are firmly 

 hxea, when it is again wound round some other object 

 of support, as if the former were not sufficiently capa- 

 ble to maintain it. 



The animal described by Cuvier, and from which 



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