_Ateles belzebuth_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., vii., p. 27, pl. xvi. (1806);
Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 44 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii.,
p. 178 (1876).
_Le marimonda_, Humb. Obs. Zool., p. 325 (1811).
_Ateles frontatus_ (nec Gray), Sclater, Nat. Hist. Rev., 1861, p. 509.
_Ateles vellerosus_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 733; Reinh., P. Z. S.,
1872, p. 797; Sclater, P. Z. S., 1873, pp. 5, 798, pl. ii.; Alston, in
Godman and Salvin, Biol. Centr. Amer. Mamm., p. 10 (1879).
_Ateles fuliginosus_ (nec Kuhl), Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 179
(1876).
_Ateles pan_, Schl., t. c. p. 180 (1876).
CHARACTERS.--Closely allied to _Ateles geoffroyi_. Hair abundant, long,
soft, and flaccid. Face flesh-coloured, except for a black bar from the
corner of the eye to the cheek; forehead black, its hair short, reflexed,
and uniting, so as to form an erect, crest-like ridge, with the fur on the
top of the head, which is directed forward. General colour above black to
reddish-brown; the head, back, outer side of the entire fore-limb and of
the lower part of the hind-limb, hands, and feet, and upper surface of tail
deep black; sides of body, loins, and thighs yellowish-brown or dull black
washed with rufous; whiskers, throat, whole of under surface of body,
inside of fore- and hind-limbs, and under surface of tail (this sometimes
black) yellowish-cream colour, but very variable, sharply defined from
{245}the dark colour of the upper parts. Thumb entirely wanting. Eyes dark
yellowish-grey. May be distinguished from the dark form of Geoffroy's
Spider-Monkey by the sharp definition of the colours of the upper and under
sides of the body.
DISTRIBUTION.--This species, also spoken of as the Mexican Spider-Monkey,
is known to occur right across Guatemala; it is by no means uncommon, Mr.
Salvin says, in the forest country on the northern part of Vera Paz, and he
also saw a troop at the summit of the ridge of mountains which connects the
Volcan de Fuego with the main Cordillera, at about 8,000 feet above the
sea.
The late Prof. Liebmann, the Danish botanist, obtained a specimen,
according to Prof. Reinhardt, "in the neighbourhood of the small place
Mirador, situated not far from the volcano of Orizaba, in the State of Vera
Cruz.... He met with it also in the eastern parts of the State of
Oaxaca.... But at the same time he expressly states that he never met with
this _Ateles_, nor, indeed, with any other Monkey, on the Pacific slope of
the Great Cordillera in Oaxaca, and that, as far as he could learn, Monkeys
are to be found on the western coast only south of Tehuantepec." This
species is the only Spider-Monkey certainly known to range as far north as
Mexico. According to M. Sallé, the most northern locality for Monkeys with
which he was acquainted, was in the State of San-Louis Potosi, about 23° N.
latitude, on the upper part of the basin of the Tampico river. (_Alston._)
HABITS.--The Mexican Spider-Monkey is, like the foregoing members of the
genus, arboreal, consorting together in small troops, and feeding on
fruits. Prof. Liebmann observed it in small troops in the deep barrancas,
up to an elevation of 2,000 {246}feet above the sea, on the Orizaba
volcano, and in the forests of Oaxaca, to 4,000 feet. Mr. Salvin, on the
volcano of Atitlan, in Guatemala, at a height of between 5,000 and 6,000
feet, met several troops of this species on the tops of the higher trees of
the forest. These parties of Monkeys were usually about twenty in number
and of all ages. On approaching them they did not evince any alarm, but
kept uttering a constant querulous sort of bark, and moved from time to
time so as to get a better view of the intruder. A few days afterwards,
during an excursion to the same volcano, when the summit, 11,800 feet above
the sea, was reached, numerous troops of _Ateles_ were seen in the forest,
from an elevation of 7,000 feet to as low as 2,500 feet on the outskirts of
the coffee plantations of San Agustin.
Now that we have passed in review the whole of the Anthropoid species
inhabiting the New World, a short account of the regions to which they are
confined will be of some interest. The most northern limit of Monkeys is,
as mentioned above, the State of San-Louis Potosi, about the latitude of
23° North. Their most southern limit attains to nearly 25° of South
latitude. They are now confined to the Mexican and Brazilian sub-regions of
what has been defined as the Neotropical Region, by Dr. A. R. Wallace, in
his great work, "The Geographical Distribution of Animals." The Mexican
sub-region belongs to the Neotropical Region, one of those six great areas
into which the globe has been divided off by Dr. Sclater on the basis of
the geographical distribution of the animals that now inhabit it--the final
product of the slowly-changing features of the earth's surface, and of the
form, structure, and habits of its animal and vegetable life.
The Mexican sub-region forms the northern part of the {247}Region, and, to
condense Mr. Wallace's account of it, it is of comparatively small extent;
but the whole of its area is mountainous, being, in fact, a continuation of
the great range of the Rocky Mountains. It varies in elevation above the
sea from 6,000 to 18,000 feet. "With the exception of the elevated plateaus
of Mexico and Guatemala, and the extremity of the peninsula of Yucatan, the
whole of Central America is clothed with forests; and as its surface is
much broken up into hill and valley, and the volcanic soil of a large
portion of it is very fertile, it is altogether well adapted to support a
varied fauna, as it does a most luxuriant vegetation." In this region only
species of Spider-Monkeys (_Ateles_), of Howlers (_Alouatta_), of Capuchins
(_Cebus_), of Night-Monkeys (_Nyctipithecus_), and of Squirrel-Monkeys
(_Chrysothrix_) are found. The Spider-Monkeys and the Howlers alone extend
so far North as Mexico, and the Night-Monkeys reach to Nicaragua, while the
Squirrel-Monkeys and Capuchins have penetrated no further than to Costa
Rica.
The Brazilian Sub-region includes all the open plains and pasture lands,
surrounded by, or intimately associated with, the forests. Its central mass
consists of the great forest plain of the Amazons, from the north-east
coast of Brazil to high up in the Andes on the west, a stretch of more than
2,000 miles; and from the mouth of the Orinoko to near La Paz in the
Bolivian Andes, a distance of 1,900 miles, of continuous forest in both
directions. Within this area are some open "campos" or patches of pasture
lands, along several of the tributaries of the Amazon, and Llanos--open
flat plains generally flooded in the wet season--on the northern bank of
the Orinoko. Unbroken forest also covers the country from Panama southwards
by the Magdalena Valley along the western aspect of the {248}Andes to
Guayaquil. There is a very arid tract on the northeast coast of Brazil; but
south of Cape San Roque the coast forests extend to 30° south latitude,
"clothing all the valleys and hill-sides as far inland as the higher
mountain ranges, and even penetrating up the great valleys far into the
interior. To the south-west the forest country reappears in Paraguay, and
extends in patches and partly wooded country till it almost reaches the
southern extension of the Amazonian forests. The interior of Brazil is thus
in the position of a great island plateau, rising out of, and surrounded
by, a lowland region of ever-verdant forests." Of its Anthropoid life the
Woolly Monkeys (_Lagothrix_), the Sakis (_Pithecia_), and the Uakaris
(_Brachyurus_) are confined to its Amazonian forests. The Woolly
Spider-Monkeys (_Brachyteles_) keep to the wooded coast-regions of
South-east Brazil, while the Titis (_Callithrix_) do not range out of the
tropics of South America. The Howlers (_Alouatta_), the Spider-Monkeys
(_Ateles_), and the Capuchins (_Cebus_) roam nearly over the whole
region--the first and last ranging from Costa Rica to Paraguay as well. The
Spider-Monkeys indeed extend over to the west side of the Equatorial Andes,
and in Guatemala across to the Pacific coast. No species of Monkey,
however, is known to inhabit the western side of the Andes, to the south of
the Gulf of Guayaquil.