66 



THE MONKEYS OF THE NEW WORLD. 



group, and one may jx;rhaps say that there is 

 no other genus in the animal kingdom which 

 appears to be so much in a state of flux, in 

 which the species are marked off from one 

 another by character's so ill-defined, and the 

 varieties in colour, arrangement of the hair, 

 &c., are so numerous. Whether this variation 

 depends on frequent hybridization, or on the 

 fact that the species in a certain measure are 



still in the process of being formed and are 

 not yet sufficiently well fixed, is still an un- 

 solved problem. The species represented in 

 fig. 17 is the Weeper Capuchin or Sai {Cebus 

 capucinus), above whose wrinkled, naked, 

 flesh-coloured forehead the short thick hair 

 forms a kind of cap. The fur is brown, 

 darker on the back. 



The different species of sajous are almost 



I'lg. 17. — ihc Weeper Capiiciiin or bai \Lcoi(s i'iij>/n-iinis). 



always to be met with in the huts of the 

 Indians as domestic animals, and are brought 

 over to Europe in great numbers. Their 

 dirty habits are a still greater objection than 

 their disposition to tease other animals. They 

 usually discharge their urine into their hands 

 and then rub their bodies with it ; and so also 

 when they get hold of snuff or any other 

 pungent-smelling article they at once proceed 

 to rub it all over their bodies. The shrewd 

 creatures probably do this principally in order 

 to rid themselves of the disagreeable parasites 

 that infest their coats. In the monkey-houses 



they are mostly tyrannized over and ill-treated 

 by the Old World forms, unless they manage 

 by their pitiful whining and caressing to gain 

 the favour of a larger monkey who protects 

 them. 



THE SAKIS 



(ANETURyE). 



With tail of various length, with vertebrae becoming 

 thinner and thinner towards the end; the tail never 

 used for grasping. 



A group rich in genera, in whose dentition 

 a regular descending transition towards the 



