THE SPIDER-MONKEYS. 



173 



characterized by the presence or absence of this rudimentary appendage. 

 Spix, carrying these views still farther, proposed the genus Brachyteles, 

 and the Baron Cuvier, adopting them in the Second Edition of the 

 " Kegne Animal," assigned two species to the genus Brachyteles, and re- 

 tained five in the genus Ateles. The excellent Memoir of M. Isidore 

 Geoffroy (Mem. Mus. XVII. published in 1828J clearly demonstrated, 

 however, that this arrangement should be regarded as purely artificial, 

 violating as it does the most natural analogies. Three additional species 

 have Hkewise been discovered since the Baron Cuvier published his last 

 Edition, so that the genus Ateles would now contain ten species, were 

 not three of them assigned to M. Isidore GeofFroy's new genus Ekiodes, 

 which will doubtless be universally adopted. 



The term Ateles, from arsXijj, imperfect, is, strictly speaking, inappli- 

 cable, as one_ species has the thumb, although rudimentary. It is, how- 

 ever, a well characterized division, being in the New World analogous to 

 the Semnopitheci and Colobi of the Old. The Ateles have the same 

 slowness, gravity, and mildness ; their head, hkewise, is round ; their limbs 

 long and thin ; the abdomen voluminous, and the tail long. They are 

 essentially destined to live on trees. When on the ground, their move- 

 ments are excessively awkward ; they drag themselves along, rather than 

 walk, and, instead of resting the fingers or the soles of the feet upon the 

 ground, so as to be either digitigrade or plantigrade, they rest on the inner 

 side of their fore-hands, and the outer margin of the hinder. These un- 

 couth crawling gestures have led to their being called Spider-Monlceys ; 

 but they atone for their awkwardness upon the ground by their agility 

 when on trees. They run along the smallest branches with the greatest 

 activity and address, and leap from tree to tree, though separated by a 

 considerable interval ; for, as they live chiefly on fruit, they have no oc- 

 casion even to come to the ground except when they require water. They 

 assist each other in danger, and attack a stranger by throwing small 

 branches at him, or even their own excrements. When attacked by 

 hunters, and one of them has been wounded, the remainder fly to the tops 

 of the trees and raise the most lamentable cries, while the injured animal, 

 placing its hands on the wound, watches the flowing of the blood until it 

 loses consciousness and dies. It then commonly remains suspended 

 by the tail ; for this organ has the property of closing itself at the ex- 

 tremity, though it remains extended throughout the rest of its length. 



Tliese animals are easily tamed, while kindness and attention render 

 them very affectionate. It has even been stated, that they learn to assist 

 in different domestic ofiices ; but this requires confirmation. 



1. ATELES PANISCUS COAITA SPIDER-MONKEY. 



S>jn. Le Coaita. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 101. 



Ateles Paniscus. — Geoft". Ann. Mus. VII. and XIX Desm. Mam. 



SiMiA Paniscus Linn. Gmel. I. 36. — Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 353. 



FouR-FiNGEaED MoNKEY. — Penn. Quadr. I. No. 133. 

 Icon. Coaita femelle. — Geoff, et F. Cuv. Hist. Mam. 



Le Coaita. — Audeb. Sing. 



Bu£f. Hist. Nat. XV. pi. 1. 



specific characters. 



The Hair entirely black. The Face naked and flesh-coloured. 

 The Fore-hands tetradactylous, the thumb being wanting. 

 Inhabits Guiana and Brazil. 



This animal is wholly covered with black hair, like the following 

 species, but is absolutely without a visible thumb on the fore-hand ; 

 its face is flesli-coloured. 



Though long known as a distinct species, its history has always been 

 more or less confounded with that of other Monkeys. It certainly does at first 

 sight appear paradoxical, that an animal apparently organized for rapid 

 motion, with long and slender hmbs, and a tail capable of acting like a 

 fifth hand, should move with slowness and constraint; yet, when upon 

 the ground, its arms and legs seem to move with pain to the animal, and 

 to require the influence of some urgent motive for action. When on a 

 tree, however, we are assured by Pennant and others, that the activitv 

 of this animal is very great. It does not appear to be destitute of intelli- 

 gence ; it is mild and aflfectionate to its keeper. At all times the tail is 

 firmly rolled round any object within its reach, as if to protect the indi- 

 vidual from an accidental fall. Audebert tells us, that he saw one speci- 

 men raising straw and hay to its month with the tail, in nearly the same 

 manner as an Elephant uses its trunk. Tliese animals are said to be 

 found in numerous troops in the woods of Guiana and Brazil, suspended 

 from the branches of trees. 



The entire body of the Coaita Spider-Monkey is covered with black, 

 glossy.long, and coarse hairs, rather scanty beneath, and without the slight- 

 est trace of woolly hairs. The face, as well as the skin of the body, is of 

 a brownish flesh-coloured tint, and the hands are black. Its ears resem- 

 ble ours, but they want the lobe ; the abdomen is of very great capacity, 

 and seems to announce the presence of voluminous intestines. The cry 

 of this animal is acute and plaintive. The mamma; of the female, placed 

 44 



beneath the arm-pits, are marked by a black nipple. The clitoris is en- 

 ormously developed, being nearly two inches in length. 



2. ATELES PENTADACTYLUS.— FIVE-FINGERED SPIDER- 

 MONKEY. 

 Syn. Le Chamek — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 100. 



Ateles pentadactyxus. — Geoff. Ann. Mus. VII. and XIX. 



SiJiiA Chamek Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 353. 



Ateles sub-pentadactylus, — Desm. Mam. 

 Icon. 



specific characters. 



The Hair entirely black. The Face naked. 

 The Fore- Hands with a rudimentary thumb. 

 Inhabits Guiana, Brazil, and Peru. 



The Five-fingered Spider-Monkey differs from the preceding in 

 having the thumb slightly apparent ; yet this consists only of a 

 single phalanx, and wants the nail. The hair is wholly black. 



So great is the resemblance between this species and the Coaita in form 

 and colour, that they were long regarded as identical. Their skulls are, 

 however, very different. That of the Five-fingered Spider-Monkey is 

 broader, shorter, flatter towards the suture of the parietal bones, and 

 more expanded towards the temples. The lower jaw-bone is likewise 

 proportionably larger j the inferior margin is straight, while it is vaulted 

 in the Coaita; and the ascending branches are so extensive, that we 

 might almost imagine that they served, as in the Howlers, to support a 

 hyoid bone of unusual magnitude. The thumb differs greatly in the two 

 species. In the Coaita Spider-Monkey, the bone of the metacarpus is, at 

 most, only half the length of the adjoining bone, and the terminal phalanx 

 is so small, that it forms but a fifth part of the length of the preceding ; 

 these two bones are slender in proportion, so that they are lost in the 

 common integuments, without permitting the slightest trace of them to 

 appear externally. In the Five-fingered Spider- Monkey, the same bones 

 are found, their chief difference consisting in their thickness, but the bone 

 of the metacarpus is not quite so long. Tlie first and only phalanx is still 

 less so, being about a tinird of its length ; but it is much broader, espe- 

 cially near the extremity. This phalanx, detaching itself wholly from the 

 second bone of the metacarpus, constitutes the thumb of the Chamek. 

 It is very short, and wholly wants the second phalanx as weU as the nail, 

 which terminates the fingers of most other Monkeys. 



The hair, like that of the Coaita, is coarse, rough, dry, and of a deep 

 black. 



3. ATELES ATER BLACK-FACED SPIDER-MONKEY. 



Syn. Le Cayou Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 101. 



Ateles ater. — F. Cuv. 



Atele Coaita de Cay'enne Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIII, — Desm. Mam. 



Icon. Cayou. — Geoff. & F. Cuv. Hist. Mam. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS, 



The Hair and Face very black. 

 The Fore-hands tetradactylous. 

 Inhabits South America. 



This animal has its face black, like the remainder of its body. 



The hairs are long and silky, but rather dry and coarse, like those of 

 the Coaita ; they are as long on the head and tail as on the remainder of 

 the body, where they point in the usual direction, from the front back- 

 wards ; while on the head their points are directed forwards. The skin 

 is black throughout, the pupil of the eye brown, and the organs of gene- 

 ration flesh-coloured. The ear is oval, and the antihelix remarkable for 

 its large size. 



4. ATELES MARGINATUS.— STRIPE-FACED SPIDER- 

 MONKEY'. 



Syn. Le Coaita a face bordee Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 101. 



Ateles marginatus Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIII. and XIX. 



SiMiA marginata (Chuva) Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 354 and 340. 



Icon. Coaita a front elanc, femelle. — F. Cuv. et Geoff. Hist. Mam. 



Ann. Mus. XIII. pi. 10. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



The Hair black, a margin of yellowish hairs round the face of the 

 male ; whitish in the female. 



The Face flesh-coloured. The Fore-hands tetradactylous. 

 Inhabits Brazil. 



These Monkeys occur frequently on the banks of the Rio Sant- 

 iago and Amazon. M. Humboldt was informed by the Indians, that 

 they live in numerous bauds apart from tlie Marimondas (Ateles Bris- 

 sonii). The male is rather ill-tempered, the female mild and intelligent. 



