20 THE COAITA. 
is so inexhaustible, that the depth of our researches only brings to view 
objects of such infinite variety of shape that the mind is lost in wonder 
and admiration. We will now take some of the Quadrumana of the New 
World. 
The CoaITA, or QUATA, as the word is frequently written, is one of the 
best known of this group of animals, which are called by the name of 
SPIDER MONKEYS on account of their long sprawling limbs, and their 
peculiar action while walking. 
The name “Ateles,” which is given to the entire genus to which this 
animal belongs, signifies “imperfect,” and has been applied to the creatures 
because the fore-paws are devoid of useful thumbs. Sometimes that member 
is almost entirely absent, and in other instances it only just shows itself. 
The Spider Monkeys are also remarkable for the long and prehensile 
tail. With such singularly delicate sense of touch is it furnished, that it 
almost seems to be possessed of the power of sight, and moves about among 
the branches with as much decision as if there were an eye in its tip. Should 
the monkey discover some prize, such as a nest of eggs, or any little dainty, 
which lies in a crevice too small for the hand to enter, it is in nowise discon- 
certed, but inserts the end of its 
tail into the cranny, and hooks out 
the desired object. 
There is a beautiful formation of 
the tail of this creature, by means of 
which the grasp of that member re- 
tainsits hold evenafterthe death of the 
owner. If a Spider Monkey be mor- 
tally wounded and not killed outright, 
it curls its tail round a branch, and 
thus suspended yields up its life. 
The tail does not lose its grasp when 
the life has departed ; and the dead 
monkey hangs with its head down- 
wards until decomposition sets in and 
the rigid muscles are relaxed. 
The Coaita is by no means a 
large animal, measuring very little 
‘more than a foot from the nose to the 
root of the tail, while the tail itself is 
two feet in length. Its colour is very 
dark and glossy ; so dark, indeed, as 
to be almost black. The hair varies 
CoaITa.—(Ateles Paniscus.) much in length and density. Onthe 
back and the outside of the limbs it 
hangs in long drooping locks, forming a thick covering through which the 
skin cannot be seen. But on the abdomen the hair is quite scanty, and 
is so thinly scattered that the skin is plainly visible. The skin of the face is 
of a dark copper colour. 
ANOTHER example of this wonderful group of monkeys is -found in the 
MARIMONDA ; an inhabitant, like the last-named animal, of Central Ame- 
rica, and found in greatest numbers in Spanish Guiana, where, according to 
Humboldt, it fills the place of the Coaita. 
The general shape, the formation of its limbs, and the long prehensile tail, 
point it out at once as another of the Spider Monkeys, It is certainly a very 
appropriate name for these animals. Their heads are so small, their bodies 
so short, their limbs so slender, and their tail so limb-like, that the mind 
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