Part 55

Lagothrix olivaceus, Spix, ?; Bates, Nat. River Amazon, ii., p. 320 (1863).

(Plate XX.)

CHARACTERS.--Body large and heavy; face naked, black, and wrinkled; forehead low, the eyes projecting; a few scattered white hairs on lips. Hair of under surface hoary, and longer than that of the upper surface.

ADULT MALE.--General colour blackish, hoary-grey, the hairs being dark grey, tipped with black. Head, chest, hands, under surface of body, and tip of tail, black. Length of the body, from 19 or 20 inches to 27 inches in very large specimens; tail from 24 to 26 inches.

YOUNG.--Hoary grey, darker on the belly and inner surface of the limbs; hands and top of head black.

PLATE XX.

{223}DISTRIBUTION.--This Monkey was discovered by Humboldt on the Guaviaré, a branch of the Orinoco river. It occurs in the Upper Magdalena Valley, Colombia, where it is known as the "Churuco" river. Its true habitat is the district south-west of the Rio Negro towards the Andes. It is unknown in the Lower Amazon Region.

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; but it is not hardy like the Coaitas, and seldom survives a passage down the river to Pará. Nevertheless, the Zoological Society has had a considerable number of these Monkeys in confinement during the past twenty years. Mr. Bates also states that it is much persecuted by the natives on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. "From information given me," he says, "by a collector of birds and mammals whom I employed, and who resided a long time among the Tacuna Indians, near Tabatinga, I calculated that one horde of this tribe, 200 in number, destroyed 1,200 of these Monkeys annually for food. The species is very numerous in the forests of the higher lands, but, owing to long persecution, it is now seldom seen in the neighbourhood of the larger villages."

II. THE BROWN LAGOTHRIX. LAGOTHRIX INFUMATUS.

Gastrimargus infumatus, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 41, pl. 29 (1823).

{224}Lagothrix poeppigii, Schinz, Synops. Mamm., i., p. 71 (1844); Pucher., Rev. et Mag de Zool., p. 299 (1857); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 164 (1876).

Lagothrix geoffroyi, Schinz, Synops. Mamm., i., p. 72 (1844).

Lagothrix castelnaui, Is. Geoffr. et Deville, C.R., xxvii., p. 498 (1848); Casteln., Voy. Amér. Sud, Zool., p. 5, pl. 1.

Lagothrix infumatus, Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 46 (1870); Scl., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 219 (Note).

CHARACTERS.--Large in size; face naked, black; general colour dark reddish-grey, the hairs being reddish-brown at the base, and tipped with grey or black; head, face and hind hands darker brown; chest, upper side of fore-arms, and under surface of body dark brown, or almost black; sides of body, base of the tail and perineal region brownish-red; hair of chest and under surface long and rather rigid.

DISTRIBUTION.--The Brown Lagothrix, also called "Capparo" by Humboldt, is common in the forests of the low country over the whole of the Valley of the Peruvian Amazons. It has been recorded from the Valley of the Copataza river, and also from Macas, both in Cis-Andean Ecuador.

HABITS.--These Monkeys go about in pairs, in troops of about twelve to fourteen, and frequent the great forest trees. They are often found in company with species of other genera, such as the Howlers. They are exclusively fruit-eaters, and are in great request as food; large numbers, consequently, are destroyed annually for this purpose.

THE WOOLLY SPIDER-MONKEYS. GENUS BRACHYTELES.

Brachyteles, Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Brazil, p. 36 (1823).

Eriodes, Is. Geoffr., Dict. Class., xv., p. 143 (1829).

The members of this genus resemble in general form the {225}Spider-Monkeys, to be presently described, and they present also many resemblances to the foregoing species of the Woolly Monkeys. Their limbs are long and slender, and their body heavy, and covered with a woolly under-fur. Their head is rounder than in the Capuchins. The face is flat, and the facial angle large. 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. Their fore-limbs are long and slender, and the thumb is often entirely absent (as in the Guerezas of Africa), or there may be a very rudimentary digit, which sometimes ends in a small nail. The nails of the digits are, as in Lagothrix, very compressed and sharp. The tail is longer than the body, naked on the under side, and sensitive at its termination, and therefore prehensile.

The skull is globular, and the pre-maxillary bones articulate with the nasal bones by a broad surface. The incisor teeth are equal in size; the canines are small, and of the same length as the incisors, and the molars, which are vertically higher than the canines, are thick and quadrangular. The lower jaw is dilated behind, somewhat less than in Lagothrix.

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.

{226}THE BROWN WOOLLY SPIDER-MONKEY. BRACHYTELES ARACHNOIDES.

Ateles arachnoides, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., vii., p. 271 (1806); xiii., p. 90, pl. 9 (1809); xix., p. 106 (1812); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 184 (1876, part.).

Ateles hypoxanthus, Desm., Mamm., p. 75 (1820); Neuwied, apud Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 25 (1820); Schl., t. c. p. 185 (1876, part.).

Brachyteles macrotarsus, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 36, pl. 17 (1823).

Eriodes hemidactylus and E. tuberifer, Geoffr., Mém. Mus., xvii., pp. 161, 163 (1828).