CiiAi'. ]II. BOA-CONSTRICTORS. 99 



of a species of this genus, that it distinguished be- 

 tween different objects depicted on an engraving. M. 

 Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp ; 

 at these it became much terrified : whereas, at the 

 sight of a figure of a grasshopper or beetle, it precipi- 

 tated itself on the picture, as if to seize the objects 

 there represented. 



Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near 

 Para, a gi'eat number may be seen semi-domesticated 

 in the city. The Brazilians are fond of pet animals. 

 Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in 

 captivity in this country. I counted, in a short time, 

 thirteen different species, whilst walking about the 

 Para streets, either at the doors or windows of houses, 

 or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet 

 with afterwards in any other part of the country. Orte 

 of these was the well-known Hapale Jacchus, a little 

 creature resembling a kitten, banded with black and 

 gray all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of 

 long white hairs suiTOunding the ears. It was seated 

 on the shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was 

 walking along the street, and I was told had been 

 captured in the island of Marajo. The other was a 

 species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It 

 had ruddy-brown fur, paler on the face, but presenting 

 a blackish tuft on the top of the forehead. 



In the wet season serpents are common in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Para. One morning, in April, 1849, after a 

 night of deluging rain, the lamplighter, on his rounds 

 to extinguish the lamps, knocked me up to show^ me a 

 boa-constrictor he had just killed in the Rua St. Antonio, 



H 2 



