672 



THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS. 



air. Before I could reload it recovered itself, 

 and mounted nimbly to the topmost branches, 

 out of the reach of a fowling-piece, where 

 we could perceive the poor thing apparently 

 probing the wound with its fingers. Coaitas 

 are more frequently kept in a tarne state than 

 any other kind of monkey. The Indians are 

 very fond of them as pets, and the women 

 often suckle them when young at their 

 breasts. They become attached to their inas- 

 ttrs, and will sometimes follow them on the 

 ground to considerable distances. I once 

 sa v a most ridiculously tame Coaita. It was 

 an old female, which accompanied its owner, 

 a trader on the river, in all his voyages. By 

 way of giving me a specimen of its intelli- 

 gence and feeling, its master set to and rated 

 it soundly, calling it scamp, heathen, thief, 

 and so forth, all through the copious Portu- 

 guese vocabulary of vituperation. The poor 

 monkey, quietly seated on the ground, seemed 

 to be in sure trouble at this display of anger. 

 It began by looking earnestly at him, then it 

 whined, and lastly rocked its body to and fro 

 with emotion, crying pileously, and passing 

 its long gaunt arms continually over its fore- 

 heat*, for this was its habit vrhen excited, 

 and the front of the head was worn quite 

 bald in consequence. At length its master 

 altered his tone. " It's all a lie, my old 

 woman ; you're an angel, a flower, a good 

 affectionate old creature, ' ' and so forth. Im- 

 mediately the poor monkey ceased its wail- 

 ing, and soon after came over to where the 

 man sat. The disposition of the Coaita is 

 mild in the extreme ; it has none of the pain- 

 ful, restless vivacity of its kindred, the Cebi, 

 and no trace of the surly, untamable temper 

 of its still nearer relatives, the Mycetes, or 

 howling monkeys. It is, however, an arrant 

 thief, and shows considerable cunning in pil- 

 fering small articles of clothing, which it con- 

 ceals in its sleeping- place. The natives of 

 the Upper Amazons procure the Coaita, 

 when full grown, by shooting it with the 

 blowpipe and poisoned darts, and restoring 

 life by putting a little salt (the antidote to 

 the Urarf poison with which the darts are 

 tipped) in its mouth. The animals thus 

 caught become tame forthwith. Two fe- 

 males were once kept at the Jaidin des 

 Plantes of Paris, and Geoffroy St. Hilaire re- 

 lates of them that they rarely quitted each 

 other, remaining most part of the time in 

 close embrace, folding their tails round one 

 another's bodies. They took their meals to- 

 gether ; and it was remarked on such occa- 

 sions, when the friendship of animals is put 

 to a hard test, that they never quarrelled or 

 disputed the possession of a favorite fruit 

 with each other. 



The neighborhood of Obydos was rich also 

 in insects. In the broad alleys of the forest 

 a magnificent butterfly of the genus Morpho, 

 six to eight inches in expanse, the Morpho He 

 cuba, was seen daily gliding along at a height 

 of twenty feet or more from the ground. 

 Among the lower trees and bushes numerous 

 kinds of Heliconii, a group of buttei flies pc 



culiar to tropical America, having long nar- 

 row wings, were very abundant. The pre- 

 vailing ground color^of the wings of thesfc, 

 insects is a deep black, and on this arede- 

 picted spots and streaks of crimson, white, 

 and bright yellow, in different patterns ac 

 cording to the species. Their elegant shape, 

 showy colors, and slow, sailing mode of 

 flight, make them very attractive objects, and 

 their numbers are so great that they form 

 quite a feature in the physiognomy of the 

 forest, compensating for the scarcity of flow* 

 ers. Next to the Heliconii, the Cala* 

 grammas (C. nstarte and C. peristera) were 

 the most conspicuous. These have a very 

 rapid and short flight, settling frequently and 

 remaining stationary for a long time on the 

 trunks of trees. The colors ^." \\\e\r wings 

 are vermilion and black, the sur!iice having, 

 a rich velvety appearance. The genus owes 

 its Greek name Calagramma (signifying "a. 

 letter beneath") to the curious markings of 

 the underside of the wings, resembling Ara- 

 bic numerals. The species and varieties aro 

 of almost endless diversity, but the majority 

 inhabit the hot valleys of the eastern parts of 

 the Andes. Another butterfly nearly alliel 

 to these, Callithea Leprieurii, was also very 

 abundant here, at the marshy head of the 

 pool before mentioned. The '.rings are of a 

 rich dark-blue color, with a broad border of 

 silver-green. These two groups of Callilhea 

 and Catagramma are found only in tropical 

 America, chiefly near the equator, and are 

 certainly among the most beautiful produc 

 lions of a region where the animals and 

 plants seem to have been fashioned in na 

 ture's choicest moulds. A great variety of 

 other beautiful and curious insects adorned 

 these pleasant woods. Others were seen 

 only in the sunshine in open places. As the 

 waters retreated from the beach, vast num- 

 bers of sulphur-yellow and orange colored 

 butterflies congregated on the moist sand. 

 The greater portion of them belonged to the 

 genus Callidryas. They assembled m dense- 

 ly-packed masses, sometimes two or three 

 yards in circumference, their wings all held 

 in an upright position, so that the beach 

 looked as though variegated with beds of 

 crocuses. These Callidryades seem to be 

 migratory insects, and have large powers of 

 dissemination. During the last two days of 

 our voyage the great numbers constantly 

 passing over the river attracted the attention 

 of every one on board. They all crossed in. 

 one direction, namely, from north to south, 

 and the, processions were uninterrupted from . 

 an early hour in the morning until sunset 

 All the individuate which resort to the mar- 

 gins of sandy beaches are of the male sex. 

 The females are much more rare, and are 

 seen only on the borders of the forest, wan- 

 dering from tree to tree, and depositing their 

 eggs on low mimosas which grow in the * 

 shade. The migrating hordes, as far as I . 

 could ascertain, are composed only of males, . 

 and on this account I be.ieve their wander- 

 ings do not extend very far. 

 A strange kind of wood-cricket is 2ouud io * 



