Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/252

238 likeness to humanity is so pronounced that the observer feels quite uncomfortable in presence of the evidently small chasm existing between man and beast.

After this general characterization of the whole species, I may be allowed to trace in large outlines the families and some of their principal representatives. Science establishes two families, the monkeys of the Old World and the monkeys of the New World, and divides the latter into two sub-families, viz., the claw or squirrel apes and the howling monkeys, or scientifically, the Ouistitis and the Alouattes. The home of the ouistitis extends from Mexico to Brazil. The squirrel apes are not yet perfect monkeys, though having the same number of identically shaped teeth as the monkeys of the Old World. Their limbs end in true paws, bearing narrow, compressed, and sharp-pointed nails on the four fingers; the thumbs alone are provided with flat, large nails like human nails. They are the representatives of the transition from the unguiculated quadrupeds to the quadrumana, and rank, physically and intellectually, far below the genuine monkey with heraldic quarters. The easy, bold, and graceful movements of the latter in climbing, jumping, walking, and resting, are above their reach, and in the line of bodily abilities they hardly attain to their model, the squirrel. No one ever saw them walking in erect posture, and they always step on the full flat sole, contrary to the real monkeys, whose feet rest on the outer edge only. The cry of the squirrel-ape sounds like the whistle of mice or the pip of young birds, and its wit does not, by any means, reach the level of the genuine ape. A notorious coward, it shows all the coward's distinctive attributes—a plaintive voice, inability to submit to unavoidable facts and events, and the endeavor to swagger, even in the moment of flight.

The first rank in the family of the apes of the New World belongs incontestably to the howling monkey. Its body is slender, its limbs are proportionately developed, its hands end in five fingers, and each finger shows flat, slightly convex nails. The fur is coarse, and the hair under the chin forms a kind of long, protruding beard. A distinctive feature is to be found in a kind of bony, sixfold drum or barrel formed by an inflation of the hyoid bone, which communicates with the larynx, and gives to the voice an enormous volume and frightful sound. Hence the name of howling monkeys. The long tail is naked, callous, and of great muscular strength at its extremity, and forms a convenient prehensile organ, which might be called a kind of fifth hand, or rather the principal hand of the animal. The alouattes are not poor climbers, but they never take bold jumps, and always keep their hold by the tail till their hands have grasped the next limb, and this makes them slaves to the trees. They seldom venture upon the ground or on rocks. The howling monkeys herd in troops and follow slowly and awkwardly in the steps of their leader, whose slightest movements are imitated by every individual. There is no character in