324 ANIMALS OF EGA. Chap. V. 



meal mixed with treacle. It became tame in a very- 

 short time, allowing itself to be caressed, but making a 

 distinction in the degree of confidence it showed between 

 myself and strangers. -My pet was unfortunately killed 

 by a neighbour's dog, which entered the room where it 

 was kept. The animal is so difficult to obtain alive, its 

 place of retreat in the day-time not being known to the 

 natives, that I was unable to procure a second living 

 specimen. 



As I shall not have occasion again to enter on the 

 subject of monkeys, a few general remarks will be here 

 in place, as a summary of my observations on this im- 

 portant order of animals in the Amazons region. The 

 total number of species of monkeys which I found 

 inhabiting the margins of the Upper and Lower Ama- 

 zons, was thirty-eight. They belonged to twelve 

 different genera, forming two distinct families, the num- 

 ber of genera and families, here as well as in other 

 orders of animals or plants, expressing roughly the 

 amount of diversity existing with regard to forms. All 

 the New World genera of apes, except one (Eriodes, 

 closely allied to the Coaitas, but having claw-shaped nails 

 to the fingers), are represented in the Amazons region. 

 With these ample materials before us, let us draw a 

 comparison between the monkeys of the new continent, 

 and their kindred of the Old World. It seems highly 

 probable that the larger land areas, both continents and 

 islands, on the surface of our globe, became separated 

 pretty nearly as they now are, soon after the first forms 

 of this group of animals came into existence : it will 



