24 



MAMMALIA— ORDER I.— PRIMATES. 



body golden yellow ; whereas in the black howler (A. nigra) the whole of 

 the long hair is deep black. 



All the howlers are surlj' in disposition, and feed chiefly on fruits and 

 leaves. When howling, two or three take up their position on the topmost 

 branches of the forest trees, and commence their chorus. Mr. O. Salvin 

 writes that their wonderful cry is certainly most striking, "and I have some- 

 times endeavoured to ascertain how far this cry may be heard. It has taken 

 me an hour or more to thread the forest undergrowth from the time the 

 cry first struck my ear to when, guided by the cry alone, I stood under the 

 tree where the animals were. It would certainly not be over-estimating the 

 distance to say two miles. When the sound came over the Lake of Yzabal 

 unhindered by the trees, a league would be more like the distance at which 

 the cry may be heard." 



Agreeing with the howlers (which form a sub-family by themselves) in hav- 

 ing the lower incisor teeth placed vertically, the capuchins, 



CapucMns together with several allied genera, difi'er by the absence of 



(Oebus). any inflation of the hyoid bone. In all the group the tail is 



long and prehensile ; although in some species, when its tip 



is haired, instead of bare and sensitive, the grasping power of this organ is 



much less well marked than in the rest. The thumli may be either present 



or wanting. 



The capuchins, or typical representatives of the entire family, are some- 

 what stoutly-built monkeys, with the limbs of moderate length, the fur not 

 woolly, the thumb fully developed, and the lower surface of the extremity of 

 the tail covered with hair. Although the various species of capuchins are 

 extremely difficult to distinguish, about eighteen different kinds are now re- 

 cognised by naturalists ; their range extend- 

 ing from Mexico to Paraguay. In constitu- 

 tion these monkeys are exceedingly hardy, 

 and as they are easy to train, and gentle in 

 disposition, they are more commonly carried 

 about in England and other European coun- 

 tries by peripatetic organ-grinders than any 

 other of their kindred. From its completely 

 haired tip, the tail of the capuchins does not 

 act so thoroughly as a fifth hand as it does 

 in the spider-monkeys. The white-throated 

 capuchin {Cebus hijpoleucus) is a well-known 

 representative of the genus. 



Nearly allied to the capuchins, the two 



species of woolly monkeys take their name 



from the peculiar texture of 



J^°°"y their fur, which forms the 



ITamth^'^) most characteristic feature of 

 " the genus to which they be- 



long. In addition to this character, these 

 monkeys are distinguished by the clumsy build of the body, the rounded 

 head, the much flattened muzzle— in wliich the nostrils are circular, but not 

 approximated— and by the naked lower surface of the tip of the tail. The 

 two species are both inhabitants of the forests of Amazonia, the best known 

 being Humboldt's woolly monkey {Lagothiix Itnmboldti). The barrigudos, as 

 these monkeys are called by the Brazilians, live exclusively on fruits, and arq 



Fig. 12. — A 'WooLLT Monkey 

 ( Lagothrix). 



