170 
ORDER QUADRUMANA. 
SUB-TRIBE L— CATECHURA.'— SAPAJOOS. 
SYNONYMS. 
Helopitheci (Helopitheques) GeofF. Ann. Mus. XIX. 105. 
Les Sapajous. — Buff. Hist. Nat.— Ciiv. Reg. Anim. 
Cebus-® — Erxl. p. 44. 
CHAR.4CTERS OF THE SBB-TRIBE. 
The Tail prehensile, and long. 
Some of the Amei’ican Apes have their tails prehensile ; that is to say, its extremity is capable of rolling itself with sufficient force round 
other bodies, so as to seize them like a hand. These are more particularly styled Sapajoos. 
GENUS I. MYCETES.J— HOWLERS. 
Sxjn. Les Alouattes.— Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 99. 
Mycetes.— Illig. Prodr. 70.— Kuhl. Beitr Desm. Mam. 
Stentob — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 107. 
Cebus (in part) — Fisch. Syn. Mam. — ErxI. p. 44. 
SiJHA (in part). — Linn. Gmel. 1. 
generic characters. 
The Head pyramidal. The Face oblique. The Facial angle 30°. 
The Hyoid Bone cavernous, capacious, and appearing externally. 
The Tail naked beneath the point. 
The Hands pentadactylous. The Nails short and convex. 
Inhabit South America. 
At the head of the Sapajoos we may place the Howlers, which 
are distinguished by their pyramidal head. Their upper jaw de- 
scends much lower than the cranium, while the ascending branches 
of the lower jaw are much elevated, for receiving a bony drum, 
formed by a vesicular expansion of the hyoid bone, which commu- 
nicates with the larynx, and gives an enormous volume and terrific 
tone to their voices. Hence their name of Singes hurleurs, Brull- 
afie, or Howlers. The prehensile portion of their tail is naked be- 
neath. 
This genus contains several species, the distinctive characters of 
which are not yet very definitively fixed, as tlie colour of the liair, 
upon which it is founded, varies according to the differences of age 
and sex. 
Tiiese animals are at once distinguished from all other Apes by the 
expansion of the throat, and by their terrific howl, resembling the grunt- 
ing of a herd of swine. Though monogamous, they are found in troops 
of fifteen or twenty, and fill the air at the rising and setting of the sun 
with their mournful howls, which may be heard to a very remote distance. 
The concert usually commences with the note of a single Howler, whose 
example is speedily followed by all the remainder. These Apes are by 
no means nimble, but heavy, stupid, and lazy. They feed chiefly on leaves. 
When perceived by the hunters in their inaccessible retreats among the 
dense foliage of lofty trees, surrounded by rocks and rivers, they do not 
fly with the agility of the other Apes, nor do they take flight to any dis- 
tance, but moving slowly, and howling piteoush-, they climb higher towards 
the tops of the trees. Tlie females carry their young clinging to the back 
or under the belly. As the Howlers are in general very large and fat, 
they arc in great request among the Colonists and Indians, who use them, 
as food. They are dressed with the skins on, well singed, and roasted 
before a fire. Bonilli a la singe is likewise accounted very palatable ; but 
the resemblance of the animal to a human child, especially about the 
head, gives the dish a revolting appearance. This kind of food i.s easily 
procured, as the Howlers are at once discovered by their cries, and the 
slowness with which they take to flight commonly exposes the entire 
troop to certain death. 
This genus is natural, well defined, and characterized by having its 
limbs of medium length, and all terminated by live fingers, the anterior 
thumb being half as long as the first finger, very confined in its move- 
ments and scarcely opposable, but especially by the remarkable form of 
the skull and hyoid bone. Tlie skull is pyramidal, and shaped in such 
a manner, that when it is made to rest upon the dentary margins of the 
upper jaw, that is to say, when the plane of the palate is held horizon- 
tally, the occipital foramen is on a level with the upper part of the orbits. 
The position of the occipital foramen is likewise singular ; it recedes back- 
wards, and instead of being placed at the base of the skull, is perpendi- 
cular to it. The lower jaw is excessively developed, e.spccially in its 
branches, which are so exten.sive, as to equal the entire skull in extent 
of surface. They form two deep partitions, containing between them a 
large cavity, in which is deposited a liyoid bone modified in a remarkable 
manner. The body of that bone is transformed into an osseous chest, 
with very thin and elastic sides, presenting a large opening behind, on 
the sides of which are articulated two pairs of horns, forming the half of 
an ellipsoid, when they have attained their full growth. This chest is 
about two inches and a half in each diameter, and almost square. In 
consequence of this enormous growth, the liyoid bone extends beneath 
the lower jaw, and forms a projection, covered externally and concealed 
by a long and thick heard. The precise manner in whicli this apparatus 
influences the sound, so as to produce a volume so enormous, has not 
yet been distinctly explained. The larynx does not differ from that 
of the Weepers (Cebus), except by the presence of two membraneous 
sacs, into which the ventricles open, and communicate with the hyoid 
bone. 
The females of the Howlers, as well as those of other American Apes, do 
not appear to be subject to the “econloment periodique;" they produce only 
one young one at a time, and this they carry on tlie back. They appear 
to have much affection for their young. D' Azara seems to consider them 
as polygamous, but Spix positively assures us that they are not so. They 
are domesticated with difficulty, and, as far as we know, have never yet 
been seen alive in Europe. 
At the present date, only four species arc plainly recognizable ; but 
this number has been more than doubled by the vague indications of se- 
veral German and French writers. 
1. MYCETES SENICULUS.— ROYAL HOWLER. 
Syn. L’Alouatte boosse — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 99. 
Stentob Semchlus Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 
Mycetes Seniculus. — Kuhl. Beitr. — Desm. Mam. — Latr. 
Cebus Seniculus. — E nd. p. 46 Fisch. Syn. Mam. 
Simla Seniculus. — Linn. Gmel. — ^Mono Colorado). — Humb.^ Ohs- 
Zool. p. 342 and 354. 
Royal Monkey — Penn. Quadr. No. 133, a. 
Icon. L’Alouate — Audeb. Sing. 
Buff. Hist. Nat. Suppl. VII. pi. 25. 
specific citabactebs. 
The Hair of the head, arms, hands, and tail, deep brownish-red; 
elsewhere, bright yellowish-red ; a beard long and bushy. 
The Face naked and black. 
Inhabits French Guiana, Carthagena, and the banks of the Magda- 
lena. 
The Royal Howler, about the size, of a large Fox, of a briglA 
yellowish-retl, deeper on the head, [limbs], and tail, often comes to 
us from the woods of Guiana, where it lives in troops. 
Its food consists of leaves rather than fruits, and its cry is composed of 
short and hoarse sounds, proceeding from the depth of tlie throat, rcseni- 
bling the grunting of a Hog, but infinitely louder. When first captured, this 
animal is very .savage ; but when brought up in captivity, we are told that 
it loses its voice, becomes melancholy, and does not long survive. 
The face of the Royal Howler is black, and naked with the excepti®'^ 
of a few scattered red hairs, some scanty black hairs for eyelashes, 
and a few on the lips. The hair of the forehead is deep brownish-reo, 
very short and thick, and pointing backwards, while the Iiair of the occi- 
• * Catechura— -from KCiTi')(,ay katechoy to hold fast, and ovqx, ouruy a tail. 
2 Cubui, or Cepus — names of an Ethiopian Ape, wliich appears, from iEIian's description (XVll. c. 8), to have been the Red Guenon (Cercopithecus rubci') 
— Sole of the liaron Cuvier, 
3 Wyectes — from f/.vKr,rYig, mxiheteSi howling. 
■I Hc-mb, Obs. Zooi..— Uecueil d’Obscrvations de Zoologio ct d’ Anatomic Comparec, faites dans I’Occan Atlantiquc, dans I’lnterieur du Nouveau Continent, ct dan® 
la Ncr du Sud, pendant les annees 1799 a 1803, par Al.^dc Humboldt et A. Bonpland. Paris, 1811, 
