MONKEY (with double diminutive ending k-cy, from OF. //tonne., from It. monna, Olt. menu, she-monkey, old woman, contraction of madmi na, lady, from mint donna. my lady. from -mia, from Lat. 1lICUS, mine, and donna, from Lat. doming, lady; apparently so called from the re semblance of a monkey's face to that of an old erone). A popular name for a large number of mammals of the order Primates. In the broadest seise, a monkey is any primate except a man or a lemur. niny of these, however, are better known under more particular names, as the mar mosets, apes. gibbons, etc., and it will lie proper here to consider 'monkey' as including only the members of the two families Cebida and Cereopi thecidw, further excepting baboons and macaques (qq.v.), which have short tails. limbs nearly equal and not specially adapted to an arboreal life, and the muzzle projecting so that the face is more or less dog-like. We may. therefore. re gard the monkeys in a strict sense as ineluding all of the Celeidar, and of the Cereopitheridw all except Cynocephalus and .11acaeus, and their nearest allies.
NEw Woat.o lloxi:Ers. The Cebidae are ex clusively American and include not less than 10 genera and about 50 species. They are readily distinguished from the monkeys of the Old World by the presence of 36 teeth. the absence of a bony external auditory meatus. the absence of isehiatie callosities, and the presence of a broad internarial septum. On account of the latter characteristic, they were at one time grouped as a suborder, the Platyrrhini, while the Old World monkeys, since they have a narrow' Sept • were called rhini, but these terms have now- largely passed out of use. The principal kinds of Anwriean nomkeys are the howlers, sakis, flakaris, teetees, squirrel-monkeys, spider-monkeys. barrigodos, and sapajous. The howlers (genus Nlyeetes) are remarkable for the extraordinary cries which they are capable of emitting owing to the enormous enlargement of the hollow hyoid bone and vocal apparatus. The face is supplied with a long beard, the tail is long and very pre hensile, and the color is very variable, though usually (lark. In intelligence. the howlers are ranked among the lowest the Amerlean mon keys. although in size' .among the largest. The
sakis are long-tailed monkeys of the genus Pitheria, having a well-developed thumb and the lower incisors inclined forward; they also have the rani of the mandible expanded, though not so much so as in the howlers, A number of species are known. all South American. but vary ing greatly in the character of the hairy coat. the beard, and the trashiness of the tail; all are arboreal, have powerful] voices, and make inter esting pets, some species showing great attach went to their masters. The uaknris differ from all the other American monkeys in having a short baboon-like tail, in spite of which they arc exclusively arboreal. They are limited in their range, and die soon after being sent away from their own home. There are three species, of the genus Cacaria. The teeters (Callithrix) are small Brazilian monkeys with vertical lower in cisors and a long non-prehensile tail, distinguished from the squirrel-monkeys (Chrysothrix) by the small canine teeth and the bushy tail. Four species of squirrel-monkeys are known from Northern South America ; they have very large eyes and disproportionately long hied limbs and tail. The spider-monkeys. comprising the genera Ateles and Eriodes, are the most celebrated of the Cebidar. Atelcs, of which a dozen or inure species are known, lacks a thumb, the coat is not woolly, while Eriodes, with only three species, has a rudimentary thumb, and a woolly coat. All these monkeys have the form slender, the limbs very long, and the tail extremely prehensile and naked beneath at the tip. Although so adapted to an arboreal life, they are not specially active, and the power of grasping by the hand is very imperfect, owing to the lack of a thumb. They range from Southern Mexico and Central America southward to Sinitheastern Brazil. The barrigudos (Lagothrix) are similar to the spider monkeys, but have a thumb and are much heavier. They rank with the howlers as the largest Ameri can monkeys. The sa pa jous are somewhat smaller and stouter than the spider-monkeys and arc the favorite species in captivity, which they bear very well. They have a thumb, and the ender surface of the tail is hairy; at least 20 species been described, all of the genus Cebus.