Henry Ogg Forbes

“ The muzzle is not prominent; the mouth and chin are small; the ears are very short, scarcely appearing above the hair of the head; the eyes are enormous and yellowish in colour, imparting to them the staring expression of nocturnal animals of prey. Their tail is bushy, moderately long and non-prehensile; and the nostrils are separated by a narrower partition than in the other genera of the sub-family. Their physiognomy reminds one of an Owl or Tiger-cat (Bates) . They are covered with close, soft, woolly fur. ”

“ Habits.—This species, often known under the name of the Widow Monkey, is said to be very gentle in disposition. When approaching to capture insects or small birds, which form its prey, it becomes keen and excited, but at other times it appears to be dull and listless. They roam about in flocks of about half a dozen individuals, on the large branches of the great forest trees. They are noisy animals, and in the early morning they make the forest resound with their yelping cries.
II. THE RED TITI. CALLITHRIX CUPREA. ”

“ They sleep all day long in hollow trees, and come forth to prey on insects and eat fruits only in the night. One cannot help being struck by this curious modification of the American type of Monkeys, for the Owl-faced Night-Apes have evidently sprung from the same stock as the rest of the Cebidæ, as they do not differ much in all essential points from the Whaiapu-Sais (Callithrix) and the Sai-miris (Chrysothrix) . They have nails of the ordinary form on all their fingers, and semi-opposable thumbs ”

“ The tail thus modified is a powerful prehensile organ and serves for a fifth hand." (Huxley.) In these Monkeys there are no cheek-pouches, nor ischial callosities. Except in the Spider-Monkeys the hind-limbs are longer than the fore-; "while the thumb, even where it is best developed, is capable of but a partial opposition to the other fingers, bending almost in the same plane with the latter, so as to be more like a fifth finger." ”

“ Style of fur the same as in the previous species, but longer, and the long stiff hairs more bristly; general colour black, mottled with grey rings on the hairs; back grizzled grey; entire head, hands, feet, and lower part of limbs, black; chest, under side of the body, and tail dark ashy-grey, the latter washed at the base, sometimes extensively, with rufous, and grey towards the tip below. ”

“ The great-toe is large and can be moved from and to the side of the other digits, but is not opposable to them.
The skull is smooth and has no muscular crests; the external bony tube to the ear is not ossified. The two extremes in its form are presented by the Howling Monkeys (Alouatta) and the Squirrel-Monkeys (Chrysothrix) , as pointed out by Professor Huxley in his "Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals": "In the former the face is very large and prominent, with a low facial angle. The roof of the brain-case is depressed ”

“ This family embraces the typical Platyrrhine Monkeys, and to it belongs the great majority of the American species. As already pointed out (p. 127) their nose is flat, and the partition between the nostrils, which open sideways, is very broad, and separates them widely. They are essentially quadrupedal, and walk with the soles of both pairs of limbs flat to the ground. The Spider-Monkeys occasionally, however, assume an erect posture. ”

“ The Cebidæ are all arboreal, and strictly confined to the forest regions of Tropical America, from the southern part of Mexico to about the parallel of 30° S. lat. They are divided into four sub-families, namely: The Douroucolis, or Night-Monkeys (Nyctipithecinæ) ; the Saki Monkeys (Pitheciinæ) ; the Howlers (Mycetinæ) ; and the Capuchin Monkeys (Cebinæ) .
THE NIGHT-MONKEYS. SUB-FAMILY NYCTIPITHECINÆ.
The Night-Monkeys are small and elegant animals covered with long hair, and having long bushy tails, which are not prehensile, although they can be curled round a branch of a tree. ”

“ Characters.—General colour black and grey, grizzled; forehead and ears white, instead of black as in C. caligata, or coppery-red as in C. cuprea; temples, cheeks, throat, under side of body, and inner side of legs, bright chestnut; hands and feet grey; tail black, with a grey tinge,—the hairs being grey, with a dark ring near the tip of each; hands and feet the colour of the back.
Distribution.—U. S. Colombia; vicinity of Bogotá.
Habits.—This species is arboreal, like the other members of its genus, and it is said to be nocturnal. It spends the day rolled up very much as many of the Lemurs do. ”

“ All the species are arboreal and nocturnal, hiding away in the daytime and roaming during the night, giving vent to loud howls, or Cat-like cries, as they move in quest of the insects, small birds, and fruits, which form their food. They range from Nicaragua to the Amazon and Eastern Peru, and are called "Devil monkeys" by the Indians. They are very delicate, and soon die in captivity.
I. THE THREE-BANDED DOUROUCOLI. NYCTIPITHECUS TRIVIRGATUS. ”

“ The cerebellum, however, in the Howlers is slightly uncovered. The absolute size of the brain never, in any Ape, approaches that of Man. None of the Cebidæ attain the size of even the medium-sized Old World Apes. ”

“ As regards the skeleton, the skull is elongated, and the arched cranial portion prolonged backwards, the length of the base of the skull being shorter than the cerebral cavity. The facial portion of the skull is relatively smaller and the cranial larger even than in Man ”

“ Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 58 (1870) ; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 213 (1876) .
Characters.—Fur short, grey and brown, with a silvery lustre; on the crown of the head three long black linear streaks, distinct from each other; frontal spot whitish; back greyish-brown with a dark dorsal band and a long chestnut patch; chest and lower surface of body rusty-red; throat, and inside of limbs, greyish-ashy; tail long, cylindrical, and with short, blackish-brown hair, more yellow on the under surface of the base. Length of the body, 12 inches; of the tail, 14 inches. ”