referred to, and the Monkey, originally described by the traveller von Humboldt, is said to have "the appearance of a diminutive lion." M. bicolor is an example of the species with no mane, but with a patch of white round the mouth, looking like "a ball of snow-white cotton" held in the teeth.
Fam. 2. Cebidae.—The remaining American Monkeys are comprised in the family Cebidae. This is to be distinguished from the last by the fact that there is an additional molar, thus making thirty-six teeth in all. The tail, sometimes very short, is more generally long and highly prehensile, being nude at the extremity, which part is therefore especially prehensile; this state of affairs is often to be seen in animals with prehensile tails. The Cebidae, though for the most part larger than the Marmosets, never approach in size the Old-World Apes.
Typical of the family is the genus Cebus, including the "Capuchin" Monkeys, and consisting of nearly twenty species; the tail, though prehensile, is covered with hair to the tip, a fact which is indicative of a less perfect prehensility than is exhibited in some Monkeys with a naked under surface to the tip of the tail. The thumb is well developed. The genus ranges from Costa Rica to Paraguay. The commonest Monkey which accompanies the street organs of this country is a Cebus. It is a popular delusion that these and other monkeys are purely vegetable-feeding animals. Cebus is in fact particularly fond of caterpillars, as are also the Marmosets.
Allied to Cebus is Lagothrix, the Woolly Monkey, of which L. humboldti is the best-known species, there being indeed but one other. It is a larger and heavier animal than any species of Cebus; and the Hare-like woolliness of the fur suggested its scientific name to its original describer, von Humboldt. It has a perfectly prehensile tail, naked at the tip. The thumb and great toe are well developed. These are purely fruit-eating Monkeys, and are known as "Barrigudos" by the Portuguese of the Amazon country on account of their prominent belly, due apparently to the immense amount of fruit consumed. They are, or were, much eaten by natives.
Brachyteles is a little-known genus, connecting the last with the next genus. The under fur is woolly; the thumb is small or absent. The tail is naked below.
The Spider monkeys, Ateles or Coaitas, have been described as
