186 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was long ago described by Buffon, Illiger, and Geoffroy St.-Hilaire. It 

 is of very small size, but a little larger than the pygmy monkev, recent- 

 ly acquired by the Zoological Society ; its body measures from twenty 

 to twenty-three centimetres, and the tail about fifty-five centimetres. 



The common Uistiti is, no doubt, familiar to our readers, for it is 

 often imported into Europe. It has even reproduced in captivity, and 

 many naturalists, as Cuvier, Pallas, and Audouin, have made some very 

 interesting observations on it. The young ones, which are born with 

 the eyes open, have a very large head, a dark-gray skin of pretty uni- 

 form color, excepting the tail, which plainly shows the rings. Immedi- 

 ately after birth they cling to their dam, who, however, does not seem 

 to have any great affection for them, and turns them over to the male 

 as soon as she feels tired ; he in turn gives them back to his consort 

 when they try to suck. The adult animals, though they are by nature 

 timid, become attached to those persons who care for them, and, though 

 they do not exhibit much intelligence, they nevertheless appear to be 

 able to associate ideas. Thus, one of the two Uistitis, which Audouin 

 kept for a long time, acquired the habit of shutting the eyes whenever 

 he ate grapes, and this because he had once squirted the juice of grapes 

 into the animal's eyes. At the sight of a wasp this animal, as also its 

 companion, was seized with sudden terror, and took refuge in the bot- 

 tom of its cage, covering its head with its hands, though this was the 

 first time it ever had seen that insect, and though it daily pursued flies 

 with great address. Audouin, who had observed this occurrence, con- 

 ceived the idea of offering to his two Uistitis not a live wasp, but a 

 colored picture of one ; to his great surprise, the monkeys fully recog- 

 nized their enemy and manifested much alarm. Now, we know that 

 most of our domestic animals, and even certain highly-organized mon- 

 keys, while they manifest pleasure or rage at beholding their own 

 images in a mirror, are nevertheless perfectly indifferent in the presence 

 of the portrait, however life-like, of an animal of a different species. 



Pallas tells us that some Uistitis have endured perfectly well the 

 winter cold of St. Petersburg, while, on the other hand, they were 

 greatly incommoded by the heat of the summer. But this must be an 

 exception, for, as a rule, in our menageries these little monkeys, despite 

 all the care bestowed on them, have great difficulty in living through 

 the winter season. They are fed mainly either on eggs, which they 

 empty with much dexterity, or on fruit ; the latter must be soft and 

 sweet, for the Uistiti rejects almonds no less than acid fruits. Flesh- 

 meat has no attraction for them ; and, when they seize with their hands 

 a living bird, they first choke it to death and then tear open the cra- 

 nium to get at the brain. Their cries are various : they express alarm 

 by a sort of bark, anger by a short hiss, joy by a low cry, or by a 

 rather pleasant purring. On the slightest opposition, they bristle the 

 hair of their head and grit their teeth, and endeavor to bite the hand 

 that would seize them. Nevertheless, it is but just to say that these 



