The chief, perhaps the only, use to which these animals are applied, is as food. The _pigmy apes_ are caught by the Arabs, and fattened for this purpose, as we would fatten sheep. Whilst Dampier was on the coast of America he frequently partook of this kind of food; and states that he never ate any thing more delicious. The native American tribes eat the flesh of almost all kinds of monkeys, preferring that, however, of the _four-fingered species_ to any other. Oexmelin informs us that, while he was at Cape Gracias a Dios, in New Spain, the hunters regularly brought home, in the evening, such monkeys as they had killed in the course of the day; and that their flesh somewhat resembled that of a hare, and was of peculiarly sweet flavour. He observes, that he and his companions lived on these animals all the time they remained there. Desmarchias, in his account of Cayenne, says that the flesh of the _howling monkeys_, which are peculiarly numerous in the woods of that county, is a white and very palatable food, not indeed so fat, but in general as good, as mutton. Both the negroes and the colonists of Surinam occasionally subsist on monkeys. Yet, however delicate this kind of food may be, it is extremely repugnant to the feelings of an European to partake of what, when skinned, has so much the form and general appearance of a human being as these animals. The woods of nearly all hot climates abound in monkeys, the species of which are extremely numerous. They feed almost wholly on fruit, grain, roots, and other vegetable productions. It would be inconsistent with the plan of the present work to enter into any detail relative to their habits of life. We can only say, generally, that few animals are known to be more active, mischievous, and enterprising than these. They usually live in immense troops, and commit great depredations in cultivated grounds near the forests where they reside; some of them continuing on watch, to give alarm in case of danger, whilst others are engaged in pilfering and carrying off the plunder to their habitations. 17. _The BATS_ (Vespertilio) _constitute a very singular tribe of quadrupeds, which have the toes of their fore-feet extremely long, and connected together by a very thin and dark-coloured membrane, that extends round the hinder part of their body, and serves the place of wings, in enabling them to flit along the air in pursuit of food_. _There are near thirty ascertained species of bats, six of which are occasionally found in England. Some of them are smaller than a mouse, but others are so large that their extended membranes measure betwixt three and four feet in width. The latter are found only in torrid climates._