AOTUS 7 



chained and it never became familiar. It lived in a broad-mouthed 

 glass jar placed in a box, and when any one entered the room it would 

 dive head foremost into this, and turning around, thrust forth its face 

 and stare at the intruder. At night it was very active, uttering at times 

 a cry like a dog's suppressed bark, and scampered about to the length 

 of its chain after cockroaches and spiders. When it tried to climb 

 between the box and the wall, the space was straddled, bending the 

 knuckles at an acute angle and resting upon the palms and tips of the 

 outstretched fingers and toes and then mounted easily. The nails are 

 flat on both fingers and toes, and their physiognomy is like that of an 

 owl or tiger cat. By the Indians these monkeys are known as Ei-a. 

 He found two species inhabiting the same forest of the higher and 

 drier lands without intercrossing or even intermingling with each 

 other. His captive ate all kinds of fruit, but preferred insects, and 

 would not touch meat raw or cooked and was seldom thirsty. He was 

 told by persons who had kept these monkeys about the house that they 

 cleared the chambers of bats and insect vermin. When it was gently 

 approached, his pet permitted one to caress it, but if roughly handled 

 would bite severely, strike with its hands and make a hissing noise 

 like that of a cat. It met an unfortunate fate, as it was killed by a 

 Cairara monkey which was jealous. 



Wallace writing on this species states, (1. c.) "of the curious Noc- 

 turnal Monkeys forming the genus Nyctipithecus there are two species 

 in this district, (Valley of the Amazon), one which appears to be the 

 N. TRiviRGATUS of Humboldt, is found in the district of Ecuador, west 

 of the Upper Rio Negro ; the other closely allied, piobably the A'^. feli- 

 nus i=A. iNFULATiJs), on the Upper Amazon. Their large eyes, 

 cat-like faces, soft woolly hair and nocturnal habits render them a 

 very interesting group. They are called 'devil monkeys' by the In- 

 dians and are said to sleep during the day and to roam about only at 

 night. I have specimens of them alive, but they are very delicate and 

 soon die." 



Spix's type of A. felinus from which my description was taken is 

 in the Munich Museum in very good condition, and the colors well 

 preserved. The skull is not in the specimen and my measurements 

 given were taken from a skull in the British Museum Collection. 



Chirogaleus ( !) commersoni was described after an individual 

 without any locality or history. The type has disappeared, and the 

 description given in the Zoological Journal, 1829, p. 112, will cover 

 various examples of different species, as no especial character is given 

 that may be considered peculiar to the type alone. 



