Apes Monkeys, and Lemurs 



23 



Photo by A. S. Rudiand li: ^onii\ 



RED IIOWLER MONKEY. 

 The males possess a most estraordinary voice. 



The end of the tail seems ahvays " 

 and long, at the end, which aid it 



just as it is ahvays 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. ]jut 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 independently 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 

 witlr another hand, and walk and swing fiom Ijranch 

 to branch with the other foot and tail, all simultane- 

 ously. These monkeys have no visible thumb, though 

 dissection shows that they have a rudimentary one ;. 

 but the limbs are so flexible that they can put one 

 arm round behind their heads over on to the opposite 

 shoulder, and brush tlie fur on tlieir upper arm. 

 ■ feeling " the air or surroundings, and has hairs, thin 

 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 tlie species called Waita, when kept in captivity, wore the 



fur off its forehead by rubbing its long gaunt arms coirtinually 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 CAruCHiNS are, in the writer's opinion, the 



nicest of all monkeys. INlany 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 children 



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 dexterously, 



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 un- 



lighted 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 leaves over. 

 In the private room behind the monkey-house 



at the Zoo there are always a number of the rare 



and delicate monkeys from the New World, 



which cannot stand the draughts of the outer acts as a fifth hand. 



V. " 



PIloIo by A. S. Rudiand d: Sons. 



A SPIDER MOSKEY. 

 This moDkey is specially adapted for arboreal life. 



The taih 



