Chapter VIII: The Brown-Headed Spider-Monkey. Ateles Fusciceps

_Ateles fusciceps_, Fraser MSS.; Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 733; Sclater,
P. Z. S., 1872, p. 663, pl. lv.; Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 42
(1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 173 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Fur thick. Hairs long, shining, crisp, deep black above, the hairs of the back with brownish tips; the under side of the body and inside of the limbs black; crown of head deep coffee-brown. Length of body about 20 inches; of the tail, 26 inches, according to the dimensions taken from the skin of a young animal by Dr. Sclater. Thumbs entirely wanting.

{243}DISTRIBUTION.--In 1860, when Mr. L. Fraser returned from Ecuador, he spoke of a large Monkey he had seen, but had not obtained, in the valleys of Western Ecuador. It remained unknown until it was shot, and brought to England by Mr. Buckley some ten years later. It was the only Monkey, he says, except a _Mycetes_, which he saw in Trans-Andean Ecuador.

HABITS.--These, doubtless, do not differ from those of other Spider-Monkeys.