172 



ORDER QUADRUMANA— GENUS ATELES. 



M. Spix, while on a hunting expedition, observed a female of this 

 species, which had been wounded, continuing to carry a young one on 

 her bacli, until fainting through loss of blood, she employed her dying 

 efforts in throwing her young one upon the adjoining branches to a place 

 of safety. 



Var. Stramineus Straw-coloured Howler. 



Si/n. Stentob stramineus.' — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



Slmia straminea (arabata) Hurab. Obs. Zool. p. 355. 



Icon. Mycetes stramineus. — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 31. 



This animal is in all probability a mere variety of age or sex of the 

 Black Howler, from which we can find no essential ground for specific 

 distinction. It was found by M. Spix in the forests between the Rio 

 Negro and Solimaens towards Peru. Its hair is of a uniform straw co- 

 lour, tending in some places towards orange yellow. It is much smaller 

 than the Black Howler, and is probably a young male of the first or se- 

 cond year. 



Var. Ruflmanus. — Red-handed Howler. 

 S;/n. Mycetes kufimanus.* — Desm. Mam Kuhl. Beitr. 



Ceeus Belzebul Erxl. p. 44. — Fisch. Syn, Mam. 



Sdha Guahiba Humb. Obs. Zool. 355. 



Slmia Beelzebul Linn. Gmel. I. 355. 



Preacher Monkey'. — Penn. Quadr. I. No. 132. 

 Icon. Mycetes discolor. — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 34. 



The Red-handed variety blackish, with the latter half of its tail and its 

 hands reddish, is smaller than the Black Howler, and approaches still 

 nearer to this type than the straw-coloured variety already described. It 

 probably represents a male about to assume the characteristics of the 

 adult. 



DOUBTFUL SPECIES. 



1. M. FLAvicAUDATUs, The Yellow-striped Howler (Kuhl Beitr. 

 and Desm. Mam.), is in all probability a variety of some of the species al- 

 ready described, perhaps the young of M. chrysurus. It was found on 

 the banks of the Amazon, where it is known by the name of Choro. The 

 face is yellowish-brown, and scantily supplied with hair ; the body is 

 dark-brown ; and the tail, shorter than the body, has a yellow stripe on 

 each side. M. Humboldt distinguishes it under the name of Simla fla- 

 vicauda— (Choro) — Obs. Zool. p. 343 and 355. It is the Stentor flavi- 

 caudatus of Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



AH the Sapajoos which now remain to be described (Les Sapa- 

 jous ordinaires, Cuv.) have the head flat ; the muzzle slightly pro- 

 jecting, and the facial angle about 60°. Some of them have the 

 thumbs of the fore-hands wholly or partially concealed beneath the 

 skin, while the prehensile portion of their tail is naked beneath.' 



GENUS II. ATELES SPIDER-MONKEYS. 



S;/n. Les Ateles (in part). Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 101. 



Ateles (in part) — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 105 Spix, Sim. et Ves- 

 pert. Bras. 



Les Ateles Isid. Geoff. Mem. Mus. XVII. 



SiMiA (in part). — Linn. Ginel. J. 



specific characters. 



The Head rounded — The Facial Angle about 60° The Face per- 

 pendicular. — The Ears large and naked. 



The Hyoid Bone slightly cavernous, not appearing externally. 



The Tail naked beneath the point. 



The Fore-Hands tetradactylous, the thumb being wanting or rudi- 

 mentary — The Hinder Hands pentadactylous The Nails wide, and 



semicylindrical. 



The Limbs long and thin. 



Inhabit South America. 



All these animals come from Guiana and Brazil; their fore-hands 

 are very long and thin ; while their mode of progression is singu- 

 larly slow. They bear a remarkable similarity to Man, in the dis- 

 position of some of their muscles, and they alone of all animals have 

 the biceps cruralis constructed as in the human species. 



The Spider- Monkeys are generally mild, timid, melancholy, lazy, and 

 very slow in their movements, so as always to appear in pain or unwell ; 

 yet, when there is any occasion for exertion, they can exhibit much agility, 

 and clear a very considerable space at a single leap. They live in troops, 

 on the elevated branches of trees, and feed chiefly on fruits. We are 

 likewise assured that they eat Roots, Insects, Mollusca, and small Fish, 

 that thej' seek for Oysters at low-tide, and break the shells between two 

 stones. Some add tliat they use the point of the tail as a bait for Crabs 

 and small Fish. Dacosta and Dampier relate that, when the Spider- 

 Monkeys are desirous of passing across a river, or from one tree 

 to another, without touching the ground, they take fast hold of each 

 other by the tail, so as to form a kind of chain, which is made to 

 oscillate, until the lowermost Monkey has been swung sufficiently near 

 to the object, which it seizes, and then draws after it all the others. The 

 tail, besides its most ordinary use, that of rendering their position secure 

 by grasping the branch of a tree, is employed by them for several pur- 

 poses. It serves to seize objects at a distance, without obliging them to 

 move the body, or even the eyes, the sense of touch being so admirably 

 developed in its callous portion as to render the co-operation of another 

 sense on most occasions unnecessary. Sometimes they roll the tail round 

 the body, so as to protect themselves from the cold, to which they are 

 very sensitive, or two individuals clinging closely together, roll their tail 

 round each other. It has been ascertained that they sometimes use the 

 tail for carrying food to the mouth ; but for this purpose they usually employ 

 their hands, which, though wanting the thumb, and of a disagreeable 

 form, owing to their great length and narrowness, are far from being awk- 

 ward. The genus is widely dispersed throughout South America, and 

 contains several species, which are nearly allied, and greatly resemble 

 each other in the colours of their hair. Like the Orang-Outang, they 

 walk with great difficulty, and when on all the hands, they close the latter, 

 and place the outer surfaces upon the ground. When sitting down on 

 the haunches, they sometimes draw the hinder part of the body forwards 

 by fixing the fore limbs upon the ground, and using them like a pair of 

 crutches. 



The cerebral cavity is rounded and voluminous, and forms nearly two- 

 thirds of the entire skull. Their orbits, broad and deep, are remarkable 

 in the adults for a kind of crest, appearing on the superior and exterior 

 portion of their circumference. The lower jaw is rather deep, and its 

 branches broad, but not so much as in the Howlers. The hyoid bone 

 resembles that of several Apes of the Old Continent, such as the Guenons 

 and Baboons. It is analogous to that of the Howlers, but smaller, and 

 does not impart any volume to their voice. The Spider- Monkeys and 

 succeeding genera emit a mild and sonorous whine, resembhng the fluted 

 cry of some birds. 



The molar teeth in both jaws are small, with their crowns irregularly 

 rounded. The upper incisors are very unequal in size, the first being 

 much longer and broader than the second ; in the lower jaw, the incisors, 

 on the contrary, are equal in size, but are considerably larger than the 

 molars. Their nails are wide and semicylindrical ; the ears large and naked. 

 The nostrils are of an elongated shape, situate at a distance from each 

 other and wholly lateral, being exactly placed on the sides of the nose. 

 The chtoris is excessively long, so that the sexes are distinguished with 

 difficulty. M. Isidore Geoffrey found it to be two inches and a half in 

 length in a female of Ateles Brissonii. The tail being much longer than 

 the body, is naked beneath for a third part of its length from the point. 

 Their hair is silky and generally long, as in the Howlers. The forehead 

 is covered with scanty hairs, which are directed, at least partially, from 

 the front backwards. All the other hairs ot the head are very long, and 

 point from behind forwards, so that at the places where the points meet 

 a kind of crest or tuft, more or less distinctly pronounced, is formed, the 

 disposition of which varies according to the species. These latter cha- 

 racters serve to distinguish a Spider- Monkey from the succeeding genera, 

 at the first glance, without submitting them to any detailed examination. 



The Genus Ateles, as originally proposed by Geoffroy-St-Hilaire 

 (Ann. Mus. VII.), contained five species, one of which (Le Camail) be- 

 longs more properly to the genus Colobus of the Old World. This er- 

 ror M. Geoffroy was one of the first to acknowledge, and he accordingly 

 substituted (Ann. Mus. XIX.) the Chuva of Humboldt in its place, 

 leaving the total number of species five as before; but the discovery by 

 Prince Maximilian of a new species with a very small thumb, subsequently 

 induced Desmarest (Mam. p. 72) to separate the genus into two sections 



' Tlie Alouatte couleur de paille, Stentor stramineus, Geoffr. and Mycetes stramineus of Spix, pi. 31, of a yellowish-grey, appears from its skull to differ in the species, 

 but It may be merely a female of one of the preceding. We may easily comprehend, regarding the Howlers generally, that if their characters possess so little certainty, their 



synonyms must have still less Note of the Baron Cuvier. 



■ ^J^^J"S''*^'"5 (Bras. 226) spealis of a black Guariba with brown handt. This animal Spix refers to his Seniculus niger (see the Mtm. de Munic for 1813, p. 333). 

 It IS the Jlycetes ruflmanus of Kuhl. — Note of the Baron Cnvier. 



^ The Baron Cuvier here proceeds to remark, that " These Sapajoos have been formed into the genus Ateles by M. Geoffroy (Ann. Mus. VII. 260). Two species 

 (Alcles pentadactylus and Eriodes luberifer) have been separated from the remainder by BI. Spix, to form the genus Brachyteles, and serving to connect the penera Ateles 

 and I.agnthrix together. The remaining Ateles to which M. Spix reserves the name of Coaita, Buff, are entirely deficient of any apparent thumb on the fore-hands." For 

 this arrangement, which has justly been considered as wholly artificial, we have ventured to substitute another, apparently better suited to the present state of the science. 



