556 



MAMMALIA. 



be full of grace and gentleness, and that age does not modify these j 

 qualities. 



The American Monkej^s are divided into two sections, according 

 as they possess ^ prelten&ile or non-prehensile tail. 



Tails. — The tribe of 

 the genera Howler, 



Tribe of Monkeys with Prehensile 

 Monkeys with prehensile taUs includes 

 Lagothrix, Eriodes, Ateles, and Sapajous. 



Genus Hoioler. — The Howlers, called also Stentors and Alouates 

 (Fig 245), owe their name to the hoarse, deep-volumed cries they 

 utter at various periods during the day. Scarcely two feet in 



Fig. 245. — Ursine Howlers (Jtji/cetes ursinus). 



height, these Monkeys have the most powerful voices of any 

 known animal. When gathered in troops they make the great 

 forests re-echo again with their sonorous noise, and produce a 

 tumult that carries terror into the soul of the bravest. The 

 traveller who for the first time traverses these forests, expects 

 every moment to see a band of howling demons dancing an 

 infernal saraband. But soon the hubbub ceases, and nature, lately 

 so troubled, regains her usual stillness. 



It is at simrise and sunset, and sometimes also at the approach 

 of storms, that the Howling Monkeys lend to the echoes their 

 discordant voices. The traveller Azara compares their clamour 

 to the creaking of a great multitude of carts with badly-greased 



