SPIDER, OWL AND SQUIRREL MONKEYS 
15 
It has a wrinkled and care-worn face, as if bur- 
dened with sorrows — which most captive mon- 
keys certainly are! Its forehead, throat and 
shoulder-points are white, and the remainder 
of the body is either gray, brown or jet black. 
The Sapajous inhabit Central America and 
northern South America. About two hundred 
specimens are brought to New York every year, 
BLACK-FACED SPIDER MONKEY. 
At'e-les a' ter. 
where they are sold by dealers at prices ranging 
from $10 to $15 each. 
The Spider Monkeys' may easily be recog- 
nized by their very long, slender legs and tails, 
and small, round heads. In color they are usu- 
ally either black or gray, and rarely reddish 
brown. As they swing on their way through 
life, always using their prehensile tails to cling 
or to swing by, they have a very uncanny look, 
and it is no wonder that they are called “Spider” 
monkeys. They can come as near tying them- 
selves into knots as living mammals ever can. 
1 At'e-les. 
When fully grown, they are much larger than 
the sapajous, but are weak, unable to fight, and 
therefore timid. In a cage containing several 
species of monkeys, they are always the greatest 
cowards, and often are heard shrieking from 
fright at imaginary terrors. They are dainty 
feeders, and very difficult to keep in health in 
captivity. Four species are found north of 
Panama. The Mexican Spider Monkey oc- 
curs up to Lat. 23°, and is the most northern 
monkey on this continent. 
The Owl Monkeys. — Next to the spider 
monkeys is found a group often represented in 
captivity, the members of which are distin- 
guished by their small size, their round heads, 
very large, owl-like eyes, and long, hairy tails, 
which are not prehensile. As their staring eyes 
suggest, these creatures are of nocturnal habits, 
and in daylight hours are as inactive and un- 
interesting as opossums. Because of this, they 
make rather uninteresting pets ; but being good- 
tempered creatures, they are frequently kept. 
They are sometimes called Do-rou-cou'lis. 
They are found from Central America to 
southern Brazil. 
The Squirrel Monkeys of northern South 
America and Central America are next in order, 
and in activity and general liveliness of habit 
they make up for all that the owl monkeys lack. 
They are the most active of all the small Amer- 
ican monkeys, and so nervous and unmanage- 
able they are unfit for captive life elsewhere 
than in cages. The Common Squirrel Mon- 
key , 1 sometimes, though erroneously, called 
the Teetee, is a trim little yellow fellow, with 
a very long cranium, close-haired head, and 
a very long tail, which it gracefully curls up 
over its own shoulders whenever it sits down. 
This species comes from the Cluianas and Vene- 
zuela, and is very common in captivity. 
On board ship a Squirrel Monkey of my ac- 
quaintance once furnished constant entertain- 
ment and amusement. Its favorite food was 
big, fat cockroaches, contributed by the sailors 
from their collection in the forecastle. Each 
morning a sailor would bring a jacket, and shake 
it over a clear space on the deck. As the cock- 
roach shower struck the deck, the agile little 
monkey dashed at the insects like a terrier at 
rats, cramming them into his mouth as fast as 
1 Sai-mi'ri sci-u're-a. 
