APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 



Woolly Spider- 

 Monkey 



(Brachytdts). 



of larger size and less active habits than the capuchins. They suffer con- 

 siderably from the cold, and even at Bahia I have seen them on a wet day 

 fall into a torpid condition, when they were relentlessly thrown into the sea 

 by their captors. Mr. Wallace remarked that from their gentle disposition 

 they are " most frequently seen in confinement, and are great favourites from 

 their grave countenances, which resemble the human face more than those of 

 any other monkeys, their quiet manners, and the great affection and docility 

 they exhibit." 



The woolly spider-monkey (Brachyteles arachnoides), which is now con- 

 sidered to be the sole representative of its genus, is in many respects inter- 

 mediate between the woolly monkeys and the true spider- 

 monkeys, having the dense woolly pellage of the former, 

 coupled with the long and slender limbs of the latter. The 

 thumb is rudimental, and the nails of the other digits are 

 compressed and pointed. These monkeys, which are con- 

 fined to the dense forests of South-Eastern Brazil, from Capo San Roque to 

 Eio Grande do Sul, appear to be very rare, and little is consequently known 

 of their habits. 



The last genus of this sub-family includes the half-score species of true 

 spider-monkeys, constituting a genus distinguished from 

 the preceding by the fur not being of a woolly nature, Spider-Monkeys 

 the complete absence of the thumb, and the slight com- [A teles). 



pression of the nails. Both the tail and limbs are greatly 

 elongated. These monkeys have a wide range, extending from Mexico to 

 Paraguay ; the variegated spider-monkey (Ateles variegatiis) being one of 

 the most familiar. In it the prehensile tail reaches its perfection. It is a 

 remarkably sensitive organ, answering the 

 purpose of a "fifth hand," being capable of 

 use " for any purpose to which the hand could 

 be applied," and for hooking out objects from 

 pLioes " where a hand could not be inserted." 

 They wrap their tails about them to protect 

 themselves from cold, to which they are very 

 sensitive, and hold on by them to the branches 

 of trees with such tenacity that they remain 

 suspended after death. The prehensile part 

 of the tail is naked and of extreme sensi- 

 bility. The tail is also used to preserve 

 balance when walking erect, for which pur- 

 pose it is thrown up and curled over. The 

 appearance of these monkeys, as they leap 

 from branch to branch in their native woods, 

 swinging by their tails, and often hanging 

 on to those of each other, until a living 

 bridge is formed from tree to tree, is ex- 

 ceedingly picturesque. Although they lack 

 the extreme agility of the Oriental gibbons, 



the spider-monkeys are by far the most active members of the family 

 to which they belong. Mr. Belt writes that he has often seen two or three 

 together on the lower branches of the forest trees, "holding on to each 

 other, and to the branch with their fore-feet and long tail, whilst their hind- 

 feet hang down, all the time making threatening gestures and cries. Some- 



Fig 13 



-A Spider Monkey 

 (Aides). 



