These monkeys are a11 active animals. chiefly diurnal, though a few of the smaller forms arc nocturnal. They live almost wholly in trees and feed upon fruits and insects ehielly. though eggs, young birds, and even some reptiles may vary the diet. They are themselves constantly lnnnted by the Indians, who use them for food, and also Use or skins. The flesh of monkeys is said to be good eating, and Nome travelers speak in the terms of the meat of some of the spider-monkeys. The Cebithr are not only in ferior to the Old World monkeys in size, hut in intelligence do not compare with them. The sapajous are perhaps the most intelligent of the American species. and in captivity- make very interesting pets. :Most of the monkeys seen In the Vnited States with organ-grinders are of this kind. The Sou16 American Indians shoot them with arrows, the tips of which are slightly poisoned with curare, and when the animal thus wounded has been captured, it is fed with salt, which is an antidote to the poison. The habits of monkeys are so well known that the verb 'to monkey' has passed into current use as an un mistakable expression for meddlesome activity.
oLo \Voimf,r Turning now to the Old World monkeys, which have 32 teeth. an external. bony auditory meatus, isehiatie iVS, and a interimrhil septum, and leav ing out of aceount the baboons and maeaques, we face an assemblage of five genera and something like 45 species. Three of the genera are confined to Africa and two to Asia. Cereneelms is an African germs of four species, with teeth like a macaque. but with a long tail. Cereopithecus is a large African genus of rather slender, long-tailed monkeys, including some of the best known spe cies. The thumb is of large size, both and feet are adapted for running as well as climbing, and the stomach is simple and not saeculated. They live in troops and make pillaging expedi t nt, into cultivated grounds under the leader ship of an old male. Of the various species of this genus ‘vhich are in the market as pets, the mangabeys (q.v.) are favorites; they are usu ally blackish, with more or less white. The best known of African mon keys is the common green monkey ( ('ereopithceus collitrichas), which is of medium size aad olive green in color. It iswitlely
distributed in Africa. and over 200 years ago was introduced into Saint Kitts, Grenada, and sonic others of the Lesser Antilles, where it has been quite destructive to crops. In identifying thevarious less known species of Cereo pitheeus, one of the most important points is the color of the nose. Nasalis is a notable genus con taining a single species, the proboscis monkey (q.v.) of Borneo, in which the nose is greatly prolonged into a real proboscis. This species bears captivity poorly and few living specimens have been seen in Europe or America. Semno pithecus includes a dozen or more Asiatic species, such as the well-known hamtman and the langurs (qq.v.). The last genus, Colobus (see CUE1tEZA : RING MONKEY ) includes about a dozen African monkeys with the thumb rudimentary or wanting. Many of them are handsomely decorated with long, silky hair, and the pelts have considerable commercial value. being used for the manufac ture of women's boas. muffs, etc. The Old World Monkeys do not differ essentially from the Cebidce, but they are not so exclusively arboreal and the tail is not prehensile. In many species cheek pouches are present, in which food may be stored, and such forms have the stomach simple. but in those forms where there are no cheek pouches the stomach is sneetilated in an extraor dinary manlier. The latter monkeys are ex clusively herbivorous and live largely on shoots and leaves. Monkeys breed usually but once a year and produce only one or two young ones at a birth.
The fossil remains of monkeys have been found in the Pleistocene deposits of Brazil, and as far back as the Middle _Miocene of Europe.
BunloGemtr. Consult standard natural his tories, especially the books of Jerdou, Blanford, Blyth. and Wallace on India and the East ; and of Azara, Humboldt. Bates, Wallace. Tschudi, Waterton, Belt. Gosse, and Alston. on South and Central America. The latest general popular ac count is Forbes, "A Handbook to the Primates," in Allen's Natural History (London. 1S97). See .:11 A MA/A LIA ; PRIMATES : A PE : et c.