146 



APES AND MOXKEYS. 



who travulled so much in South America, writes as follows : " Tliis prehensile tail 

 is a most curious thing. It has been denominated, very appropriately, a fifth hand. 

 It is of manifest ad\antage to the animal, either when sitting in repose on the 

 branch of a tree, or when in its journe}- onwards in the gloomy recesses of the 

 wilderness. You may see this monkey catching hold of the branches with its 

 hands, and at the same moment twisting its tail round one of them, as if in Avant 

 of additional support ; and this prehensile tail is sutiieiently strong to hold the 

 animal in its place, even wlu'u all its four liudjs are detached from the tree, so that 



it can swing to and fro, and 

 amuse itself, solelj- through 

 the instnimeutalitj' of its pre- 

 hensile tail, which, b}' the 

 way, would be of no manner 

 of use to it did accident or 

 misfortune force the monkej' 

 to take up a temporarjr abode 

 on the ground. For several 

 inches from the extremity, by 

 nature and by constant use, 

 this tail has assumed some- 

 what the appearance of the 

 inside of a man's finger, being 

 entirely denuded of hair or 

 fur undiTueatli, but not so on 

 the upper part. " 



A more important featui-e 

 of the American monkeys, as 

 being common to the whole 

 of them, is the great width of 

 the vertical partition between 

 the two nostrils, of which 

 mention has already been 

 made. Tliis broad paiiition 

 causes the end of the nose to 

 be much expanded ; and a 

 comparison of any of our full- 

 faced figures of the New 

 World monkeys with those of the Old will show what a marked difference there is 

 in this respect between the two groups. 



Another character which we must not omit to notice is that in those of the 

 American monkeys Avhich are furnished with a thumb, this digit cannot be ojiposed 

 to the other digits of the hand. The American monkeys agree, however, with their 

 cousins of the Old World in having all their digits pro\idcd with well-developed 

 nails. 



We have left to the last the most important and perfectly constant distinction 

 between the monkeys of the Old and XeAA' World, since it is one which can only be 





TYF1C.\L SriDiill .MllNKEVS. 



