HOWLER, or STENTOR. An American monkey of the genus Mycetes. remarkable for the dila tation of the hyoid bone into a hollow drum, which communicates with the larynx. makes a conspicuous external swelling of the throat, and gives prodigious power to the voice. enabling these animals to emit hideous sounds. which are heard miles away, and to which all their names refer. There are two, and sometimes four, other zesonators connected with the larynx, besides the one in the hyoid. The howlers live chiefly among the branches of trees, and make extraordinary leaps from one to another, taking hold by the tail as readily as by the hands, and often swing ing by it alone. They are the largest monkeys in the New World. About seven species are known, occurring from Central America south ward to the Rio Grande do Sul. They are sometimes kept in captivity, but are always sul len and untamed. Their habits and brain-struc
ture both show that their position is properly among the lowest monkeys. The best known forms are those of southern Brazil, such as the very black shaggy howler, or 'guereba' (.11yeetes earaya), of which the females and young are dingy white, and the brown `arag,uata' or ursine howler (Mycetes ursinus). The red howler (31 yretes senicvlus) belongs to the Orinoco region. and is distinguished by its bright chestnut color and the ridge of upright red hair across the top of its bead. This one is said to furnish the principal animal food used by the natives of the eastern slopes of the Andes, but they are obtained only in the lowland:. Still another abundant along the lower Amazon. is the yellowish `ara bata' (ilycetes bel.-xbul). See MONKEY; and Plate of AMERICAN MONKEYS.