100 
VERTEBRATA. 
is scarcely opposable. The tail is long and usually bush j, but never adapted for prebension : tbe 
whole body is clothed with a soft woolly fur. 
These elegant little creatures are found in great abundance in the forests of Brazil, where they 
run about the trees in a manner very similar to that of squirrels, which they resemble in appear- 
ance. They feed on insects and fruits, and also on birds and their eggs. Indeed, they seem to be 
very predaceous : notwithstanding which they may be easily tamed, and were formerly favorite 
pets with fashionable ladies. There are numerous species, twenty-five or thirty being already de- 
scribed ; while, from the reports of travelers, there are doubtless many more wdnch are still un- 
kno^vn to naturalists. 
THE CEBID^. 
BufFon embraced the genus Howler, Lagothrix, Ateles, and Sajou, undeTthet\i]e JIelo2nthecus; 
the genus Callithrix, Aotes, and Saki, under the term Geopithecus; and under the terra Arcto- 
2>if^.ecMs, the OuisiiTis ; and Tamarins. We shall notice the principal genera, without entering 
THE GOLD tailed HOWLER. 
into the subdivisions which naturalists have made in this extensive family of monkeys. It maybe 
well to remark, however, that the species with prehensile tails have been denominated SapajouS, 
and those without, Sagoins. These terms, once in popular use, are now generally discarded, as 
they are not founded upon a natural division of species. 
Oenus HOWLER, Mycdes: from the Greek, hellowhuj. — Of this genus, which are the largest 
of the American monkeys, there are several species remarkable for the powerful development of 
the organs of the voice. The horrible yells sent forth by these animals from the depths of the 
forest, are described by those who have heard them as surpassingly distressing and unearthly. 
Humboldt and Bonpland heard them at the distance of half a league. It seems that their cries 
are chiefly uttered at night. Waterton, in his wanderings in the forests of Guiana, speaks of 
hearing these appalling sounds, at intervals, from eleven o'clock till daybreak. He says : " You 
would suppose that half the wild beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of carnage : 
now it is the tremendous roar of the jaguar, as he springs on his prey; now it changes to his 
