ORDER QUADRUMANA. 301 



They wander in large troops, chiefly in the night, and 

 make the vast forest resound with their dreadful yellings. 

 What heightens the effect is, that they howl in concert, the 

 entire herd joining in one deafening cry, the instant they 

 discover the approach of an intruder. 



The two species mentioned by Cuvier, are so nearly 

 allied, that some authors seem to consider them but as va- 

 rieties ; Humboldt, however, observes that there is con- 

 siderable confusion in the enumeration by different authors 

 of the several species of the howling monkeys ; that Lin- 

 naeus and Buffon mention but two, but that several distinct 

 species of howlers are now recognised. Amongst them is the 

 Araguata (Simia ursina, Humboldt.) 



"After having landed," says this celebrated transatlantic 

 traveller, " at Cumana in the province of New Andalusia, 

 we saw for the first time the Araguatos, or howling monkeys, 

 in the journey which we made tcf the mountains of Cocola 

 and the caverns of Guacharo, the habitation of millions of 

 birds of the genus Caprimulgus. Although the convent of 

 Caripe is situated in a valley, the bottom of which is ele- 

 vated more than 4000 toises above the level of the sea, and 

 the neighbourhood is consequently very cold, the surround- 

 ing forests abound in howling monkeys, whose melancholy 

 noise is heard nearly two miles off, especially when the 

 weather is open, and the electricity in the air betokens the 

 approaching storm. 



The Araguato differs from the howling monkey, de- 

 scribed by Linnaeus under the epithet Seniculus, by having 

 longer fur, the beard less full, the head more pyramidical 

 and smaller, the breast and belly not blackish brown, and 

 not naked, but red and hairy like the rest of the body. 



The Stentor fulvus of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, is yellowish 

 all over. The Caraya of Azara, and the Guariba of Marc- 

 grave, are also said to be different species of this family. 

 They are sometimes found forty on a tree, the leaves as 



Vol. I. y 



