450 MACACO BARR1GUDO. 



thus— by altering the centre of gravity — being enabled to get 

 over the ground in a posture such as no other member of its 

 tribe can maintain. It will thus run on towards some friendly 

 stem or low-hanging bough, which it seizes with its lithe 

 and prehensile limb, and joyfully swings itself up in its usual 

 monkey fashion, quickly disappearing amid the foliage. 



The ordinary size of the coaita's body is about a foot from 

 the nose to the root of the tail, while the tail itself is rather 

 more than two feet in length. 



MACACO BAR RIG U DO. 

 Seated among the boughs may often be seen, in the forests 

 of the Upper Amazon, a number of large, stout-bodied, fat- 

 paunched monkeys, with long flexible tails, furnished under- 

 neath with a naked palm, like the hand, for grasping. Their 

 faces are black and wrinkled, their foreheads low, and eye- 

 brows projecting ; their features bearing a wonderful resem- 

 blance to those of weather-beaten old negroes. The heads of 

 some are covered with black hair, and others with gray. 

 They are called by the Portuguese macacos barrigudos, or 

 big-bellied monkeys. They belong to the species of Lago- 

 thrix, and are closely allied to the coaitas. They are bulky 

 fellows, and though able, by means of their prehensile tails, 

 to get along at a good rate among the boughs, seldom trouble 

 themselves to move rapidly. 



With the exception of the black howler, which will be de- 

 scribed anon, they are the largest monkeys in America — their 

 bodies measuring about twenty-eight inches in height. Their 

 flesh being highly esteemed by the natives, they are unceas- 

 ingly hunted by the Indians. Though their manners are some- 

 what grave, yet, from their mild and confiding temper — similar 



