Part 18

DISTRIBUTION.--Chyavetas, Nauta, and Elvira in the Peruvian Amazons; Upper Rio Negro, Serra de Cocoi; Upper Cauca river, a southern confluent of the Orinoco; Venezuela. "This species is found on both sides of the Peruvian Amazon (or Marañon), on both shores of the Huallaga, and in the interior forest near the town of Chamicuros. I was told by some of the oldest Indians that these animals are common in the dense forest on the hills near the latter town, their range extending between the Huallaga river and Ucayali river to the head-waters of the Huallaga, between the towns of Lamas and Sarayaçu.... Then again on the Rio Tigri ... and over the head-waters of the Rio Napo, Rio Japurâ and Rio Negro, where Natterer first discovered it." (_Bartlett._)

HABITS.--This Monkey, the "Chuva de Baracamorros" of {233}Humboldt, which is the most beautifully coloured of its group, is said to go about in small parties, passing through the forest at a rapid rate, feeding on different kinds of berries.

II. GEOFFROY'S SPIDER-MONKEY, ATELES GEOFFROYI.

_Ateles geoffroyi_, Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 26 (1820); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 181 (1876); Alston, in Godman and Salvin, Biol. Centr. Amer. Mamm., p. 8 (1879).

_Ateles melanochir_, Desmar., Mamm., p. 76 (1820); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 43 (1870); Sclater, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 226, pl. xv., 1875, p. 419, pls. xlviii. and xlix.

_Eriodes frontatus_, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist., x., p. 256 (1842); id. Voy. H.M.S. "Sulphur," Zool., p. 9, pl. i.; Scl., P. Z. S., 1882, p. 186; Von Frantzius, Arch. f. Naturg., xxxv., 1869, pp. 257, 258.

_Sapajou geoffroyi_, Slack, Pr. Ac. Sc. Philad., 1862, p. 511 (= female).

_Ateles variegatus_ (nec Wagn.), Von Frantzius, Arch. f. Naturg., xxxv., 1869, p. 257.

_Ateles hybridus_, _A. ornatus_ et _A. albifrons_, Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., pp. 43 and 44 (1870).

CHARACTERS.--Body light greyish-drab all over; hands, elbows, feet, knees, and the upper side of the extremity of the tail, black; face black, with the exception of the lips and a ring round the eyes, broad above and narrow below, flesh-coloured. Hair of forehead reflexed, meeting that of the crown above the eyes, forming a triangular patch of erect black hairs. Top of the head and upper part of the tail buff. Length of body, 17 inches; of tail, 21 inches. Thumb entirely wanting.

This species is remarkably variable. The description given above belongs to the form described as _A. melanochir_ by {234}Desmarest from the same specimen in Paris, which Kuhl described under the name of _A. geoffroyi_. Every gradation is to be met with between this and the form described by Dr. Gray as _A. ornatus_, in which the face is entirely black, the whiskers pale reddish-yellow, the patch of erect black hair on the forehead yellowish at its base; the top of the head, sides, lower back, rump, upper part of the arms, outer, inner and posterior portion of the thighs and legs, and under side of the base of the tail, brownish-red; nape, shoulders and remainder of the tail reddish-brown, washed with black; lower part of arms, fore-arms, hands, feet, and anterior aspect of thighs and legs, black.

In some specimens the grey, or reddish-black colour, merges on the under surface, into yellowish-cream, or rufous, and the black wash is more or less distributed.

Mr. Alston, in speaking of this species, remarks that the best character by which the darker (_A. ornatus_) forms may be distinguished from our next species (_A. rufiventris_) is the want of a distinct line of demarcation between the colours of the upper and lower parts, the tint of the flanks, whatever it may be, passing almost insensibly into that of the breast and belly in all the varieties.

DISTRIBUTION.--The variation in colour described above is not due to local causes, every variety occurring between the lightest and darkest, in all the regions which this species is known to inhabit. The localities from which it has been recorded are on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Nicaragua; Costa Rica, where it occurs in large numbers from the coast forests up to nearly 7,000 feet on the mountains; Panama, and the U.S. of Colombia.

HABITS.--Geoffroy's Spider-Monkey is gregarious and arboreal, {235}frequenting the highest trees of the forest, both in the low country and at high elevations, and living on fruits and insects, but chiefly on the former. Mr. Belt relates that on the banks of the Antigua he saw a valuable tree, the "Nispera" (_Achras sapota_), growing on the dryer ridges. "It bears a round fruit about the size of an apple, hard and heavy when green, and at this time it is much frequented by the large yellowish-brown Spider-Monkey (_Ateles_), which roams over the tops of the trees in bands of from ten to twenty. Sometimes they lay quite quiet until I was passing underneath, when, shaking a branch of the Nispera tree, they would send down a shower of the hard round fruit; but fortunately I was never struck by them. As soon as I looked up they would commence yelping and barking and putting on the most threatening gestures, breaking off pieces of branches and letting them fall, and shaking off more fruit, but never throwing anything, simply letting it fall.[13] 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. A large black and white Eagle is said to prey upon them, but I never saw one, although I was constantly falling in with troops of the Monkeys. Don Francisco Velasquez, one of our officers, told me that one day he heard a Monkey crying out in the forest for more than two hours, and at last, going to see what was {236}the matter, he saw a Monkey on a branch and an Eagle beside it trying to frighten it to turn its back, when it would have seized it. The Monkey, however, kept its face to its foe.... Velasquez fired at the Eagle, and frightened it away. I think it likely, from what I have seen of the habits of this Monkey, that they defend themselves from the Eagle's attack by keeping two or three together, thus assisting each other, and that it is only when the bird finds one separated from its companions that it dares to attack it."

Mr. Osbert Salvin met with several of these Monkeys near the town of San Juan del Sur, in Nicaragua. He was walking up the course of a half-dry stream when he came upon a troop of Monkeys which had come to a pool to drink, and were climbing about the low trees on the bank of the watercourse. 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.

III. THE RED-BELLIED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES RUFIVENTRIS.

_Ateles vellerosus_ (_?_) (nec Gray), Scl., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 478.

_Ateles rufiventris_, Scl., P. Z. S., 1872, p. 688, pl. lvii.; Schlegel, Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 182 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Fur rough, upstanding less on the tail than on {237}the body, that on the forehead erect and directed backwards, that on the top of the head long, projecting forward. Face and muzzle, except a black line from the side of the nose and inner corners of the eyes to the cheeks, flesh-coloured. General colour uniform black, but the whole under surface deep bright rufous, this colour extending but slightly on to the inner surface of the limbs. Thumbs entirely wanting.

Differs from _A. geoffroyi_ by its flesh-coloured face and by the two colours of the upper and under sides being clearly defined. Length of body, 12 inches; of tail, 15½ inches.

DISTRIBUTION.--This species was first discovered on the Atrato river, in Northern Colombia, and has since been found in Panama.

HABITS.--The Red-bellied Spider-Monkey is very rare, only one or two specimens having yet been obtained. Nothing is, therefore, known of its habits.

IV. THE RED-FACED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES PANISCUS.

_Simia paniscus_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 27 (1766).

_Ateles pentadactylus_, Geoff., Ann. Mus., vii., p. 269 (1806); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 172 (1876, in part).

_Ateles paniscus_, Geoff., Ann. Mus., vii., p. 270 (1806); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 169 (1876, part.).

_Le coaita_, F. Cuv. et Geoffr., Nat. Hist. Mamm., liv., v. (Avril, 1819).

_Sapajou paniscus_, Slack, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., p. 509 (1862).

CHARACTERS.--Very similar to _A. ater_ in its coarse and entirely black fur, but differing in the naked and flesh-coloured {238}face. 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.

DISTRIBUTION.--This species is spread over Guiana, the forests of the Ucayali and Huallaga rivers in eastern Peru, and the northern part of Brazil, where it is known as the "Coaita," taking the place of the more northern _Ateles ater_. "It occurs," says Mr. 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; indeed, these companies are said to number as many as a hundred. 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 {239}are also annually killed for food, their flesh being held in high esteem by the natives.

V. THE WHITE-WHISKERED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES MARGINATUS.

_Ateles marginatus_ (nec Humb.), Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xiii., p. 92, pl. 10 (1809); Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 24 (1820); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 43 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 174 (1876).

_Coaita à front blanc, femelle_, Fr. Cuv., Hist. Nat. Mamm., livr. lxii. (Avril, 1830).

_Ateles frontalis_, Bennett, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 38.

CHARACTERS.--Similar in size and coloration to _A. paniscus_. Body lean; hair moderately long and coarse. Face naked, black, except the skin round the eyes, which is flesh-coloured; general colour black; under surface of body and inner sides of limbs, ashy-grey. It differs from _A. paniscus_ by having the forehead, crown of head, a spot on each side of the nose, and the whiskers, white.

A specimen in the British Museum has four pre-molars in each upper jaw, instead of the normal three of the _Cebidæ_.

DISTRIBUTION.--This species was discovered by Humboldt on the banks of the Santiago river. Mr. Bates says "it is never met with in the alluvial plains of the Amazons," nor, he believes, on the northern side of the great river-valley, except towards its head-waters near the Andes.

HABITS.--According to Von Humboldt, this Spider-Monkey--known as the "White-Whiskered Coaita"--is very fierce and libidinous. Mr. Bates encountered this large and handsome species on the Cupari river, a tributary of the Tapajos, one {240}of the large southern affluents of the Amazon. Here he could get scarcely anything but fish to eat, and, as this diet did not agree with him, he was obliged to have recourse to the Coaita flesh. "I thought," he says, "the meat the best flavoured I have ever tasted. It resembled beef, but had a richer and sweeter taste.... We smoke-dried the joints instead of salting them; placing them for several hours on a framework of sticks arranged over a fire. Nothing but the hardest necessity could have driven me so near to cannibalism as this, but we had the greatest difficulty in obtaining here a sufficient supply of animal food." Von Humboldt has also referred to the cooking of these Monkeys by the natives of the Upper Orinoko. "The manner of roasting these anthropomorphous animals," he writes, "contributes singularly to render their appearance disagreeable in the eyes of civilised Man. A little grating or lattice of very hard wood is formed, and raised one foot from the ground. The Monkey is skinned and bent into a sitting posture; the head generally resting on the arms, which are meagre and long; but sometimes these are crossed behind the back. When it is tied on the grating a very clear fire is kindled below.... 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. Roasted Monkeys, particularly those that have a very round head, display a hideous resemblance to a child; the Europeans, therefore, who are obliged to feed on Quadrumanes, prefer separating the head and the hands, and serve up only the rest of the animal at their tables. The flesh of Monkeys is so lean and dry that Mr. Bonpland has {241}preserved in his collections at Paris an arm and hand, which had been boiled over the fire at Esmeraldas; and no smell arises from them after a great number of years."

VI. THE BLACK-FACED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES ATER.

_Ateles ater_ (Le Caijou), F. Cuvier, Mamm., i., pl. xxxix. (1823); Sclater, P. Z. S., 1872, p. 5; Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 170 (1876).

_Sapajou ater_, Slack, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1862, p. 510.

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. Thumbs entirely wanting. Length of body, 19 inches; tail, 26 inches.

Distinguished from _A. paniscus_, which it closely resembles, by the black colour of its face, and the direction of the hairs on the forehead.

YOUNG.--Lighter in colour than the adults; sometimes brown on the back and the outer side of the limbs.

DISTRIBUTION.--The Black-Faced Spider-Monkey ranges from Panama, through the United States of Colombia to Eastern Peru.

HABITS.--Entirely arboreal, living in large troops, and feeding on fruits.

{242}VII. THE GRIZZLED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES GRISESCENS

_Ateles grisescens_, Scl. MSS.; Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 732; id. Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42 (1870); Scl., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 223; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 168 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Hair of forehead elongate. Fur in general moderately long, black, with greyish-white hairs intermingled, giving it a grizzled appearance; under side of tail grey. Similar to _A. ater_ and _A. paniscus_, but distinguished by the intermixture of grey hairs, and by the colour of the under side of the tail. Thumbs absent.

YOUNG MALE.--Rather lighter in colour, especially on the under side of body; tail black above, grey beneath. Length of body, 14 inches; tail, 16 inches.

DISTRIBUTION.--The habitat of this species is not certainly known. Dr. Sclater considers it probable that it will turn up in some part of the Central American or the Colombian coast.

VIII. THE BROWN-HEADED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES FUSCICEPS.

_Ateles fusciceps_, Fraser MSS.; Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 733; Sclater, P. Z. S., 1872, p. 663, pl. lv.; Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 173 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Fur thick. Hairs long, shining, crisp, deep black above, the hairs of the back with brownish tips; the under side of the body and inside of the limbs black; crown of head deep coffee-brown. Length of body about 20 inches; of the tail, 26 inches, according to the dimensions taken from the skin of a young animal by Dr. Sclater. Thumbs entirely wanting.

{243}DISTRIBUTION.--In 1860, when Mr. L. Fraser returned from Ecuador, he spoke of a large Monkey he had seen, but had not obtained, in the valleys of Western Ecuador. It remained unknown until it was shot, and brought to England by Mr. Buckley some ten years later. It was the only Monkey, he says, except a _Mycetes_, which he saw in Trans-Andean Ecuador.

HABITS.--These, doubtless, do not differ from those of other Spider-Monkeys.

IX. THE HOODED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES CUCULLATUS.

_Ateles cucullatus_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 733; id. Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42 (1870); Murie, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 739; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 169 (1876).

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. Length of body, 14½ inches; of tail, 27½ inches.

DISTRIBUTION.--The Hooded Spider-Monkey is very rare, and very different from any other member of its group in regard to the hair of its head. Its native country is still a matter of uncertainty. Dr. Sclater, however, remarks in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 1881: "I have some reason to suppose {244}it may be from the northern coast of Colombia, as I am told that a black Spider-Monkey, with long hair over its head, is occasionally brought for sale into Cartagena."

X. THE LONG-HAIRED SPIDER-MONKEY. ATELES VELLEROSUS.

_Ateles belzebuth_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., vii., p. 27, pl. xvi. (1806); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 44 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 178 (1876).

_Le marimonda_, Humb. Obs. Zool., p. 325 (1811).

_Ateles frontatus_ (nec Gray), Sclater, Nat. Hist. Rev., 1861, p. 509.

_Ateles vellerosus_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 733; Reinh., P. Z. S., 1872, p. 797; Sclater, P. Z. S., 1873, pp. 5, 798, pl. ii.; Alston, in Godman and Salvin, Biol. Centr. Amer. Mamm., p. 10 (1879).

_Ateles fuliginosus_ (nec Kuhl), Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 179 (1876).

_Ateles pan_, Schl., t. c. p. 180 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Closely allied to _Ateles geoffroyi_. Hair abundant, long, soft, and flaccid. Face flesh-coloured, except for a black bar from the corner of the eye to the cheek; forehead black, its hair short, reflexed, and uniting, so as to form an erect, crest-like ridge, with the fur on the top of the head, which is directed forward. General colour above black to reddish-brown; the head, back, outer side of the entire fore-limb and of the lower part of the hind-limb, hands, and feet, and upper surface of tail deep black; sides of body, loins, and thighs yellowish-brown or dull black washed with rufous; whiskers, throat, whole of under surface of body, inside of fore- and hind-limbs, and under surface of tail (this sometimes black) yellowish-cream colour, but very variable, sharply defined from {245}the dark colour of the upper parts. Thumb entirely wanting. Eyes dark yellowish-grey. May be distinguished from the dark form of Geoffroy's Spider-Monkey by the sharp definition of the colours of the upper and under sides of the body.

DISTRIBUTION.--This species, also spoken of as the Mexican Spider-Monkey, is known to occur right across Guatemala; it is by no means uncommon, Mr. Salvin says, in the forest country on the northern part of Vera Paz, and he also saw a troop at the summit of the ridge of mountains which connects the Volcan de Fuego with the main Cordillera, at about 8,000 feet above the sea.

The late Prof. Liebmann, the Danish botanist, obtained a specimen, according to Prof. Reinhardt, "in the neighbourhood of the small place Mirador, situated not far from the volcano of Orizaba, in the State of Vera Cruz.... He met with it also in the eastern parts of the State of Oaxaca.... But at the same time he expressly states that he never met with this _Ateles_, nor, indeed, with any other Monkey, on the Pacific slope of the Great Cordillera in Oaxaca, and that, as far as he could learn, Monkeys are to be found on the western coast only south of Tehuantepec." This species is the only Spider-Monkey certainly known to range as far north as Mexico. According to M. Sallé, the most northern locality for Monkeys with which he was acquainted, was in the State of San-Louis Potosi, about 23° N. latitude, on the upper part of the basin of the Tampico river. (_Alston._)

HABITS.--The Mexican Spider-Monkey is, like the foregoing members of the genus, arboreal, consorting together in small troops, and feeding on fruits. Prof. Liebmann observed it in small troops in the deep barrancas, up to an elevation of 2,000 {246}feet above the sea, on the Orizaba volcano, and in the forests of Oaxaca, to 4,000 feet. Mr. Salvin, on the volcano of Atitlan, in Guatemala, at a height of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, met several troops of this species on the tops of the higher trees of the forest. These parties of Monkeys were usually about twenty in number and of all ages. On approaching them they did not evince any alarm, but kept uttering a constant querulous sort of bark, and moved from time to time so as to get a better view of the intruder. A few days afterwards, during an excursion to the same volcano, when the summit, 11,800 feet above the sea, was reached, numerous troops of _Ateles_ were seen in the forest, from an elevation of 7,000 feet to as low as 2,500 feet on the outskirts of the coffee plantations of San Agustin.