CHAPTER XII. 
ANIMALS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA. 
Scarlet-faced Monkeys—Parauact Monkey—Owl-faced Night Apes—Marmosets— 
Jupura—Comparison of Monkeys of the New World with those of the Old—Bats 
—Birds—Cuvier’s Toucan—Curl-crested Toucan—Insects—Pendulous Cocoons 
—Foraging Ants—Blind Ants. 
As may have been gathered from the remarks already made, the 
neighbourhood of Ega was a fine field fora Natural History collector. 
With the exception of what could be learnt from the few specimens 
brought home, after» transient visits, by Spix and Martius and the 
Count de Castelnau, whose acquisitions have been deposited in the 
public museums of Munich and Paris, very little was known in Europe 
of the animal tenants of this region ; the collections that I had the 
opportunity of making and sending home attracted, therefore, consider- 
able attention. Indeed, the name of my favourite village has become 
quite a household word amongst a numerous class of Naturalists, not 
only in England, but abroad, in consequence of the very large number 
of new species (upwards of 3,000) which they have had to describe, 
with the locality ‘““Ega” attached to them. The discovery of new. 
species, however, forms but a small item in the interest belonging to 
the study of the living creation. The structure, habits, instincts, and 
geographical distribution of some of the oldest-known forms supply 
inexhaustible materials for reflection. The few remarks I have to make 
on the animals of Ega will relate to the mammals, birds, and insects, 
and will sometimes apply to the productions of the whole Upper 
Amazons region. We will begin with the monkeys, the most interest- 
ing, next to man, of all animals. 
Scarlet-faced Monkeys.—Early one sunny morning, in the year 1855, 
I saw in the streets of Ega a number of Indians, carrying on their 
shoulders down to the port, to be embarked on the Upper Amazons 
steamer, a large cage made of strong lianas, some twelve feet in length 
and five in height, containing a dozen monkeys of the most grotesque 
appearance. ‘Their bodies (about eighteen inches in height, exclusive 
of limbs) were clothed from neck to tail with very long, straight, and 
shining whitish hair; their heads were nearly bald, owing to the very 
short crop of thin grey hairs, and their faces glowed with the most vivid 
scarlet hue. As a finish to their striking physiognomy, they had bushy 
whiskers of a sandy colour, meeting under the chin, and reddish-yellow 
331 
