294 THE LOWER AMAZONS. Chap. VII. 



at Villa Nova was a monkey of a species new to me ; it 

 was not, however, a native of the district, having been 

 brought by a trader from the river Madeira, a few miles 

 above Borba. It was a howler, probably the Mycetes 

 stramineus of Geoffrey St. Hilaire. The howlers are 

 the only kinds of monkey which the natives have not 

 succeeded in taming. They are often caught, but they 

 do not survive captivity many weeks. The one of which 

 I am speaking was not quite full grown. It measured 

 sixteen inches in length, exclusive of the tail ; the whole 

 body was covered with rather long and shining dingy- 

 white hair, the whiskers and beard only being of a 

 tawny hue. It was kept in a house, together with a 

 Coaita and a Caiarara monkey (Cebus albifrons). Both 

 these lively members of the monkey order seemed rather 

 to court attention, but the Mycetes slunk away when 

 any one approached it. When it first arrived, it occa- 

 sionally made a gruff subdued howling noise early in 

 the morning. The deep volume of sound in the voice 

 of the howling monkeys, as is well known, is produced 

 by a drum-shaped expansion of the larjnix. It was 

 curious to watch the animal whilst venting its hollow 

 cavernous roar, and observe how small was the muscular 

 exertion employed. When howlers are seen in the 

 forest there are generally three or four of them mounted 

 on the topmost branches of a tree. It does not appear 

 that their harrowing roar is emitted from sudden alarm ; 

 at least, it was not so in captive individuals. It is pro- 

 bable, however, that the noise serves to intimidate their 

 enemies. I did not meet with the Mycetes stramineus 

 in any other part of the Amazons region ; in the neigh- 



