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The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates
page 83 of 565 (14%)
in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind
thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the
thumbs of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to
the other fingers. I do not mean to imply that they have a near
relationship to squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an
inferior order of mammals; their resemblance to those animals is
merely a superficial one. They have two molar teeth less in each
jaw than the Cebidae, the other family of American monkeys; they
agree with them, however, in the sideway position of the
nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all the
monkeys of the old world. The body is long and slender, clothed
with soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length
of the trunk, is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger
in volume than the anterior pair. The Midas ursulus is never seen
in large flocks; three or four is the greatest number observed
together. It seems to be less afraid of the neighbourhood of man
than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in the woods which
border the suburban streets, and once I espied two individuals in
a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth. Its mode
of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like
that of the squirrel; it does not ascend to the slender branches,
or take those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidae do, whose
prehensile tails and flexible hands fit them for such headlong
travelling. It confines itself to the larger boughs and trunks of
trees, the long nails being of great assistance to the creature,
enabling it to cling securely to the bark, and it is often seen
passing rapidly around the perpendicular cylindrical trunks. It
is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and has a great
share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the trees
along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few
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