172 
ORDER QUADRUMANA^GENUS ATELES. 
M. Spix, while on a hunting expedition, observed a female of this 
species, which had been wounded, continuing to carry a young one on 
her back, until fainting through loss of blood, she employed her dying 
efforts in throwing her young one upon the adjoining branches to a place 
of safety. 
Vab. Stbamineds Stbaw-coloured Howleb. 
Syn. Stentob stramineus.’ — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 
SiMiA STRASDNEA (ababata). — Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 355. 
Icoti. Mycetes STRA-MINEOS. — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 31. 
This animal is in all probability a mere variety of age or sex of the 
Black Howler, from which we can find no essential ground for specific 
distinction. It was found by M. Spix in the forests between the Rio 
Negro and Solimaens towards Peru. Its hair is of a uniform straw co- 
lour, tending in some places towards orange yellow. It is much smaller 
than the Black Howler, and is probably a young male of the first or se- 
cond year. 
Vab. Rufima-vcs. — Red-handed Howleb. 
Syn. Mycetes RcriMA.vos.* — Desm. Mam Kuhl. Beitr. 
Cebus Belzebul Erxl. p. 44. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. 
SrJttA Guariba. — Humb. Obs. Zool. .355. 
SIMIA Beelzebul Linn. Gmel, I. 355. 
Preacher Monkey. — P enn. Quadr. I. No. 132. 
Icon. Mycetes discolor. — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 34. 
The Red-handed variety blackish, with the latter half of its tail and its 
hands reddish, is smaller than the Black Howler, and approaches still 
nearer to this type than the straw-coloured variety already described. It 
probably represents a male about to assume the characteristics of the 
adult. 
DOCBTFCL SPECIES. 
I. M. FLAVICACDATCS, The Yellow-striped Howleb (Kulil Beitr. 
and Desm. Mam.), is in all probability a variety of some of the species al- 
ready described, perhaps the young of M. chrysurus. It was found on 
the banks of the Amazon, where it is known by the name of Choro. The 
face is yellowish-brown, and scantily supplied with hair; the body is 
dark-brown ; and the tail, shorter than the body, has a yellow stripe on 
each side. M. Humboldt distinguishes it under the name of Simia fla- 
vicauda — (Choro) Obs. Zool. p. 343 and 355. It is the Stentor flavi- 
caudatus of Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 
-\11 the Sapajoos which now remain to be described (Les Sapa- 
jous ordinaires, Cuv.) have the head flat; the muzzle slightly pro- 
jecting, and the facial angle about 60“. Some of them have the 
thumbs of the fore-hands wholly or partially concealed beneath the 
skin, while the prehensile portion of tlieir tail is naked beneath.’ 
GENUS II. ATELES.— SPIDER-MONKEYS. 
Syn. Les AteLES (in part). Cut. Reg. Anim. 1. 101. 
Ateles (in part).— Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 105. — Spix, Sim. et Ves- 
pert. Bras. 
Les Ateles — Isid. Geoff. Mem. Mus. XVII. 
Simia (in part). — Linn. Gmel. I. 
SPECIFIC characters. 
The Head rounded — The Facial Angle about 60“ The Face per- 
pendicular — The Ears large and naked. 
The Hyoid Bone slightly cavernous, not appearing externally. 
The Tail naked beneath the point. 
The Fore-Hands tetradactylous, the thumb being wanting or riidi- 
meiilary — T he Hinder Hands pentadactylous The Nails wide, and 
semicylindiical. 
The Limbs long and thin. 
Inhabit South America. 
All these animals come from Guiana and Brazil ; tlieir fore-hands 
are very long and thin ; while their mode of progression is singu- 
larly slow. They bear a remarkable siinilai'ity to Man, in the dis- 
position of some of their muscles, and they alone of ail animals have 
the biceps cruralis constructed as in the human species. 
The Spider-Monkeys are generally mild, timid, melancholy, lazy, and 
very slow in their movements, so as always to appear in pain or unwell; 
yet, when there is any occasion for exertion, they can exhibit much agility, 
and clear a very considerable space at a single leap. They live in troops, 
on the elevated branches of trees, and feed chiefly on fruits. We are 
likewise assured that they eat Roots, Insects, Mollusca, and small Fish, 
that they seek for Oysters at low-tide, and break the shells between two 
stones- Some add that they use the point of the tail as a bait for Crabs 
and small Fish. Dacosta and Dampler relate that, when the Spider- 
Monkeys are desirous of passing across a river, or from one tree 
to another, without touching the ground, they take fast hold of each 
other by the tail, so as to form a kind of chain, which is made to 
oscillate, until the lowermost Monkey has been swung sufficiently near 
to the object, which it seizes, and then draws after it all the others. The 
tail, besides its most ordinary use, that of rendering their position secure 
by grasping the branch of a tree, is employed by them for several pur- 
poses. It serves to seize objects at a distance, without obliging them to 
move the body, or even the eyes, the sense of toucli being so admirably 
developed in its callous portion as to render the co-operation of another 
sense on most occasions unnecessary. Sometimes they roll the tail round 
the body, so as to protect themselves from the cold, to which they are 
very sensitive, or two individuals clinging closely together, roll their tail 
round each other. It has been ascertained that they sometimes use the 
tail for carrying food to the mouth ; but for this purpose they usually employ 
their hands, which, though wanting the thumb, and of a di^greeable 
form, owing to their great length and narrowness, are far from being awk- 
ward. The genus is widely dispersed throughout South America, and 
contains several species, which are nearly allied, and greatly resemble 
each other in the colours of their hair. Like the Orang-Outang, they 
walk with great difficulty, and when on all the hands, they close the latter, 
and place the outer surfaces upon the ground. When sitting down on 
the haunches, they sometimes draw the hinder part of the body forwards 
by fixing the fore limbs upon the ground, and using them like a pair of 
crutches. 
The cerebral cavity is rounded and voluminous, and forms nearly two- 
thirds of the entire skull. Their orbits, broad and deep, are remarkable 
in the adults for a kind of crest, appearing on the superior and exterior 
portion of their circumference. The lower jaw is rather deep, and its 
branches broad, but not so much as in the Howlers. The hyoid bone 
resembles that of several Apes of the Old Continent, such as the Guenons 
and Baboons. It is analogous to that of the Howlers, but smaller, and 
does not impart any volume to their voice. The Spider- Monkeys and 
succeeding genera emit a mild and sonorous whine, resembling the fluted 
cry of some birds. 
The molar teeth in both jaws are small, with their crowns irregularly 
rounded. The upper incisors are very unequal in size, the first being 
much longer and broader than the second ; in the lower jaw, the incisors, 
on the contrary, are equal in size, but are considerably larger than the 
molars. Their nails are wide and semicylindrical ; the ears large and naked. 
The nostrils are of an elongated shape, situate at a distance from eacli 
other and wholly lateral, being exactly placed on the sides of the nose. 
The clitoris is excessively long, so that the sexes are distinguished with 
difficulty. M. Isidore Geoffroy found it to be two inches and a half in 
length in a female of Ateles Brissonii. The tail being much longer than 
the body, is naked beneath for a third part of its length from the point. 
Their hair is silky and generally long, as in the Howlers. The forehead 
is covered with scanty hairs, which are directed, at least partially, from 
the front backwards. All the other hairs of the head are very long, and 
jioint from behind forwards, so tliat at the places where the points meet 
a kind of crest or tuft, more or less distinctly pronounced, is formed, the 
disposition of which varies according to the species. These latter cha- 
racters serve to distinguish a Spider-Monkey from the succeeding genera, 
at the first glance, without submitting them to any detailed examinatioii- 
The Genus Ateles, as originally proposed by Geoflroy-St-Hilaire 
(Ann. Mus. VII.), contained five species, one of which (Le Camail) be- 
longs more properly to the genus Colobus of the Old World. This er- 
ror M. Geoft'roy was one of the first to acknowledge, and he accordingly 
substituted (Ann. Mus. XIX.) the Chuva of Humboldt in its place, 
leaving the total number of species five as before; but the discovery by 
Prince Maximilian of a new species with a very small thumb, subsequently 
induced Desmarest (Mam. p. 72) to separate the genus into two sections 
' The Alouatte couleur do paille, Stentor stramineus, Geoffr. and Mycetes stramincus of Spi.x, pi. 31, of a yellowish -grey, appears from its skull to differ in the species, 
but it may be merely a female of one of the preceding. We may easily comprehend, regarding the Howlers generally, that it their characters possess so little certainty, their 
synonyms must have still less .Vote of the Baron Cuvier. 
- Mnregravius (Bras. 226) speaks of a black Guariba with brown hands. This animal Spix refers to his Seniculus niger (sec the Mem. de Munic for 1813, p. 333). 
It is the Jlyeetes rufimaims of Kuhl Note of the Baron Cuvier. 
’ The Baron Cuvier here proceeds to remark, that “ These Sapajoos have been formed into the genus Atcies by M. Geoffroy (Ann. Mus. VII. 260). Two species 
(Ateles pcntadactylus and Eriodes tuberifer) have been separateii from the remainder by M. .Spix, to form the genus Brachyteles, and serving to connect the genera Ateles 
and l.agothrix together. The remaining .Ateles to which M. Spix reserves the name of Coaita, Buff, are entirely deficient of any apparent thumb on the fore-hands.” F®'' 
this arrangement, which has justly been considered as wholly artificial, we have ventured to substitute another, apparently better suited to the present state of the science. 
