APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 23 
just as it is always worth while to watch a great snake 
on the move. The tail is used as a fifth hand: the 
Indians of Brazil say they catch fish with it, which is 
not true. But if you watch a spider monkey moving 
from tree to tree, his limbs and tail move like the five 
fingers of a star-fish. Each of the extremities is as 
sensitive as a hand, far longer in proportion than an 
ordinary man’s arm, and apparently able to work in- 
dependently of joints. The monkey can do so many 
things at once that no juggler can equal it. It will 
hold fruit in one hand, pick more with one foot, place 
food to the mouth with another hand, and walk and 
swing from branch to branch with the other foot and 
ma% Pig BD es tail, all simultaneously. These monkeys have no 
Bite Oy As So Redland &> Seay visible thumb, though dissection shows that they have 
wane pes 7 paetinta nen a rudimentary one; but the limbs are so flexible that 
‘ ene they can put one arm round behind their heads over 
on to the opposite shoulder, and brush the fur on their upper arm. The end of the tail seems 
always “feeling” the air or surroundings, and has hairs, thin and long, at the end, which aid it 
in knowing when it is near a leaf or branch. It is almost like the tentacle of some sea 
zoophyte. Gentle creatures, all of them, are these spider monkeys. One of them, of the species 
called Warra, when kept in captivity, wore the fur off its forehead by rubbing its long gaunt 
arms continually over its brow whenever it was scolded. The spider monkeys differ only in 
the degree of spidery slenderness in their limbs. In disposition they are always amiable, and in 
habits tree climbers and fruit-eaters. 
The CapucHins are, in the writer's opinion, 
the nicest of all monkeys. Many species are 
known, but all have the same round merry faces, 
bright eyes, pretty fur, and long tails. There is 
always a fair number at the Zoological Gardens. 
They are merry, but full of fads. One hates chil- 
dren and loves ladies; another adores one or two 
other monkeys, and screams at the rest. All are 
fond of insects as well as of fruit. A friend of the 
writer kept one in a large house in Leicestershire. 
It was not very good-tempered, but most amusing, 
climbing up the blind-cord first, and catching and 
eating the flies on the window-panes most dexter- 
ously, always avoiding the wasps. This monkey 
was taught to put out a lighted paper (a useful 
accomplishment) by dashing its hands on to the 
burning part, or, if the paper were twisted up, by 
taking the unlighted end and beating the burning 
part on the ground ; and it was very fond of turning 
the leaves of any large book. This it did not only 
by vigorous use of both arms and hands, but by 
putting its head under too, and “heaving” the Zea See 
Photo by A. S, Rudland & Sons 
leaves Over A SPIDER MONKEY 
In the private room behind the monkey- This monkey is specially adapted for arboreal life, The tai 
house at the Zoo there are always a number of the acts as a fifth hand 
