Henry Ogg Forbes

“ They are the commonest Monkeys seen in captivity in our streets. Their tail is long and covered with hair to the tip, and, though prehensile, it is not the perfect substitute for an additional hand noticed in several other genera. Their limbs are only moderately long, and are less slender than in the Spider-Monkeys. The fore-limbs have a well-developed thumb, which, as compared with the length of the hand, is the most Man-like of all the Apes; in some species the nails of the digits are compressed laterally. ”

“ We now come to describe the remaining Monkeys of the New World. The Cebinæ are characterised by having the incisors vertical, not procumbent; they have no inflated hyoid bone as in the foregoing Sub-family. The tail in all is long and prehensile, although in some species it is a less perfect grasping organ, being clothed with hair to the tip, instead of being there naked and highly sensitive. ”

“ Characters.—Hairs of body long, but thin on the head, body, limbs and tail; hair of crown very long and projecting over the face and the sides of head, forming what has been called a "hood." Face nude, flesh-coloured; cheeks and lower jaw nearly nude also, but the skin of a blackish hue. Hair on back black, intermingled with numerous others which are yellowish-grey in colour; crown and back of head, hands, and feet black—the hairs black throughout. Nude part of tail flesh-coloured. The hands have a rudiment of a thumb in the shape of a small tubercle. ”

“ Two causes help to produce this diversity of opinion; one is, as remarked above, the natural disposition which these animals have to vary, and to become lighter or darker in colour according to circumstances, and the other is the extremely close relationship that exists between the different species of the genus. Observations, however, are not yet numerous enough, nor exact enough, to enable those who have only studied the species alive in Europe, or had skins, to decide with such imperfect data as to their sex, age, and habitat. ”

“ Often when on lower trees, they would hang from the branches, two or three together, holding on to each other and to the branch with their fore-feet and long tail, whilst their hind-feet hung down, all the time making threatening gestures and cries. Sometimes a female would be seen carrying a young one on its back, to which it clung with legs and tail, the mother making its way along the branches, and leaping from tree to tree, apparently but little encumbered by its baby. ”

“ Its actions are like those of a wayward child; it does not seem happy even when it has plenty of its favourite food, bananas; but will leave its own meal to snatch the morsels out of the hands of its companions. ”

“ Habits.—The "Caparro," as the Orinoco Indians named this species to Humboldt, or "Macaco barrigudo," as the Portuguese settlers call it, is entirely an arboreal animal, living exclusively on fruits, on which it is a most voracious feeder. The name of "big-bellied," which barrigudo means, is probably obtained from the effects of this habit. Its manners in captivity are grave, and its temper, according to Mr. Bates, is mild and confiding, like that of the Coaitas, or Spider-Monkeys. Owing to these traits, the Barrigudo is much sought after as a pet ”

“ Most of the troop consisted of Cebus hypoleucus, but with them were several Ateles of the present species, of one of which Mr. Salvin wrote a description as it sat jabbering at him and throwing down sticks from a branch above his head. Mr. Salvin also told Mr. Alston that it was not unusual to see Monkeys kept in confinement in the court-yards of the Spanish houses in Guatemala. Amongst them were occasionally to be seen specimens of Geoffroy's Spider-Monkey; but he always found that they had been brought from Nicaragua or Costa Rica, the species not extending into Guatemala. ”

“ In the Capuchins the incisor teeth are erect, and are always shorter than the canines. The molars are four-cusped, and have, on their crowns, two transverse ridges and the oblique ridge, already described in the Lemuroidea, from the front inner cusp to the hind outer cusp. These animals have also one milk-molar tooth more than in Man.
The outer surface of the main brain (cerebrum) is almost as much convoluted as in the Old World Apes.
The Capuchins range from Costa Rica to Paraguay, and are represented by about eighteen species. They are very gentle and docile animals. ”

“ The Spider-Monkeys and the Howlers alone extend so far North as Mexico, and the Night-Monkeys reach to Nicaragua, while the Squirrel-Monkeys and Capuchins have penetrated no further than to Costa Rica.
The Brazilian Sub-region includes all the open plains and pasture lands, surrounded by, or intimately associated with, the forests. Its central mass consists of the great forest plain of the Amazons, from the north-east coast of Brazil to high up in the Andes on the west, a stretch of more than 2,000 miles ”

“ In its brain Ateles exhibits in some respects a higher type than in even the Old World Apes.
In regard to this group of Monkeys, the late Mr. H. W. Bates made the following interesting observations:—"In the Coaitas the tail reaches its highest perfection as a prehensile organ; and on this account it would perhaps be correct to consider the Coaitas as the extreme development of the American type of Apes. As far as we know from living and fossil species, the New World has progressed no further than the Coaita towards the production of a higher form of the Quadrumanous order. ”

“ They are characterised by their light and slender body, which is narrower across the loins than across the chest. The head is rounded, the forehead salient, and the muzzle somewhat projecting. Both pairs of limbs are much elongated, the hind-limbs being shorter, however, than the fore-, and the thumb of the fore-limb is sometimes very rudimentary, being only a nailless tubercle—or, in the majority of the species, entirely absent, rendering the hand a much less perfect organ for holding or picking up small objects, such as fruits, &c. ”

“ It is extremely docile and very intelligent; the look in its eyes is remarkably penetrating, and it appears to read in the eyes of its observer what is passing within him, and to comprehend every motion and gesture. ”

“ The nose has the partition between the nostrils narrower than in the other species of the family, and the nostrils are themselves more approximated, circular in form, and directed more downward than outward, thus showing some approach to the position of the nostrils in the Old World Apes. ”

“ The tip of the tail for a short distance being naked, distinguishes this species from all others. Shoulders, arms, and sides of the head behind the ears pure white; chest and throat yellowish; rest of the body deep black.
Older individuals have the head longer than the younger ones, and the shoulders yellowish instead of white. Length of the body, 131⁄2 inches; of the tail, 17 inches.
Distribution.—This species was discovered by Humboldt in the low lands of Colombia. From Colombia its range extends north to Nicaragua. ”

“ Bates, "throughout the lowlands of the Lower and Upper Amazons, but does not range to the south beyond the limits of the river plains." In the higher part of the Rio Negro it comes down to the north bank, but does not cross to the south bank of the river.
Habits.—This species is the best known of all the Spider-Monkeys. It is captured in large numbers, when young, by the natives of Guiana, and as they bear captivity well, many of them have been brought to Europe. They live in larger troops than do some of the other members of its genus ”

“ Hairs of forehead long and projecting anteriorly; tail one-quarter longer than the body; hands generally entirely lacking the thumbs, though sometimes a rudimentary thumb is present, and that occasionally on one hand only. Naked portion of tail covered with sensory papillæ, rendering it more sensitive, so it is said, than the hand. Length of body, 24 inches; tail, 30 inches. The skull in some specimens of the thumbed variety is compressed laterally, and shows a sagittal crest along the top. ”

“ General colour silky brown, almost black on the head and limbs, paler on the shoulders and arms; the whiskers forming a white, or sometimes pale yellow, band, bordering the cheeks from opposite the eyes to the chin. Face and hands naked, violet; skin below the hair of the same colour.
The hair of the body is longer in winter than in spring; but the crests, or "horns," and the white whiskers appear only when the animal is fully adult.
Distribution.—Brazil.
III. THE SLENDER CAPUCHIN. CEBUS FLAVUS. ”

“ Characters.—Fur soft, elongate, silky, with thick under-fur. Hair on front of head elongate and reflexed, forming across the brow a short crest, higher above each eye; hair on top of head lying flat; that on cheeks short and adpressed; base of nose large, and corrugated longitudinally; toes long; tail longer than in other species; under surface of body less haired. ”

“ The thumb may be present or absent.
This Sub-family contains four genera: the Capuchins (Cebus) ; The Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix) ; the Woolly Spider-Monkeys (Eriodes) ; and the Spider-Monkeys (Ateles) . The species belonging to these genera are very numerous, and are found over the whole region from Mexico in the north, to Paraguay and Bolivia in the south, or from about 25° N. lat., to 30° S. lat.
THE CAPUCHINS. GENUS CEBUS. ”

“ The Woolly Spider-Monkeys are very rare, and little is known of their habits. They are confined to the south-eastern coast forests of Brazil, that region to the south of Cape San Roque, whence, as far as Rio Grande do Sul, ever-verdant forests, as Mr. Wallace has described, clothe all the valleys and hills of the lowland region, stretching as far west as the higher mountain ranges parallel to the coast, and even up the valleys of the larger rivers a long way into the interior of the country.
THE BROWN WOOLLY SPIDER-MONKEY. BRACHYTELES ARACHNOIDES.
Ateles arachnoides, Geoffr., Ann. ”

“ On seeing the natives devour an arm or leg of a roasted Monkey, it is difficult not to believe that this habit of eating animals which so much resemble Man in their physical organisation, has in a certain degree contributed to diminish the horror of anthropophagy among savages. ”

“ Characters.—Entirely black; fur silky, and longer on the head and tail than on the body; fur on top of head directed from behind forwards, falling over the forehead, meeting the backwardly directed hairs of the forehead and forming a tuft. Face black, the upper part naked; chin with stiff black hairs mixed with a few white ones. Ears oval and human-like in form, the upper part movable at will. ”

“ The animals grouped under the genus Lagothrix are readily distinguished by having a heavy body, and a rounded head, with the muzzle much flattened, and the nostrils nearly circular, but not approximated. More conspicuous than any other external character is the woolliness of their under-fur. ”

“ They are very easily tamed, and become very affectionate. They live chiefly on fruits, principally on a species of palm-nut. Dampier, however, says, apparently of this species of Ateles: "The Monkeys come down by the Sea-side [at low water] and catch them [the Periwinckles and Muscles] ; digging them out of their Shells with their Claws." Large numbers of this species are also annually killed for food, their flesh being held in high esteem by the natives. ”

“ Face naked, black, and bordered by a broad white patch of whiskers, reaching from the temple nearly to the angle of the mouth. The black part of the limbs and legs near to the yellow colour, varied with more or fewer yellow hairs.
Female and Young Male.—Similar to the adult male, but less in size, and the coloration paler than in the adult male. Elbows and feet black; under side of the body greyish-yellow. The white stripe on the sides of the face is wanting in the young female. ”

“ When crying, their eyes fill with tears, but never flow down the cheeks. When in pain or terror, the form of the mouth, as observed by Mr. Darwin at the Zoological Gardens in London, is quite different from that expressing pleasure or satisfaction ”

“ The Coaitas are like the rest of the Cebidæ, essentially quadrupedal, but they occasionally assume the erect posture. They are purely arboreal in habit, living in small companies in the very high trees of the forest.
Their geographical distribution is very wide. They extend over the whole area of the Cebidæ, i.e., over two of the sub-regions, the Brazilian and Mexican, of the Neotropical Region. ”