100 THE FAUNA OF 



varied. In Asia the macaques are similar forms, with 

 very large cheek-pouches and a most indiscriminate 

 appetite, animal food entering largely into the diet. 

 The baboons of Africa are much more widely dis- 

 tributed through that continent than most genera of 

 monkeys, but this is associated with the fact that they 

 are not forest animals in the true sense, being chiefly 

 foimd on rocky ground, and being practically quad- 

 rupeds. The shortness of the arms is a drawback in 

 chmbing, at which they do not appear to be skilful. 



Very different from all the Old World monkeys are 

 those which haunt the equatorial forests of Brazil, and 

 constitute the Platyrrhine or American forms. All these 

 animals are small, none has an opposable thumb, the 

 tail is usually prehensile, and the partition between the 

 nostrils is broad. Examples are the various kinds of 

 capuchins, which have a mixed diet, and share with 

 some Old World forms the habit of plundering culti- 

 vated land. In the absence of cheek-pouches they carry 

 away part of their spoil in their hands or under their 

 arms, the arms not being indispensable in cUmbing, 

 which is carried on largely by the tail. The spider mon- 

 keys (Ateles) are comparable to the thumbless monkeys 

 of Africa in the total absence of the thumb. As their 

 name indicates, they have long slender limbs, and are 

 very skilful climbers, the long and markedly prehensile 

 tail playing a great part in the process. The leaf-eating 

 howling monkeys (Mycetes, Fig. 23) may also be named, 

 but a considerable number of other genera occur, some 

 without prehensile tails. Though characteristic of the 

 equatorial forests, these New World monkeys extend 

 northwards into Southern Mexico, and southwards to 

 lat, 30° S. 



Of much more limited distribution are the little 



