THE LIFE OF MAMAIALS 
spread and familiar of all the American tribe, and are regarded 
as the most advanced in organization. The prehensile tail 
Spider here reaches its highest perfection, as well as all other 
Monkeys. organs which adapt the animal to a purely arboreal 
existence. Bates” has much to say in support of this view, and 
tells many interesting things of them — among others how fond 
the Indians are of them as pets. ‘‘ The disposition of the coaita,” 
he says, “is mild in the extreme; it has none of the painful 
BLACK SPIDER MONKEY. 
restless vivacity of its kindred, the Cebi, and no trace of the 
surly, untamable temper of its nearer relatives, the Mycetes, 
or howling monkeys.” Of the ten species of spider monkey, 
the two best known in South America are the variegated, whose 
coat is a handsome mixture of black, white, and orange-yellow; 
the red-faced black one, so common as a pet in the Guiana 
villages, and often taken abroad; and the large white-whiskered 
one, the eating of which is so graphically described by Hum- 
boldt®; but all the kinds are a favorite flesh with the Indians 
and enjoyed well roasted by most white men: Bates found it 
42 
