M O N K E Y. 



279 



are of a pale yellowish sand colour, from which the 

 animal has received the nameof Leucocephalaor white 

 headed. A small space round the eyes, the point of 

 the nose, and the lips, are the only naked parts of 

 the face, and they are of a brown co'our. This spe- 

 cies in habits the forests of Guiana, or rather the brush- 

 wood on their margins, and in their openings, where 

 the ground is moderately dry ; and its chief employ- 

 ment when active consists in hunting for the nests of 

 wild bees, upon whose honey it feeds with great 

 eagerness. 



The Monk Saki (P. monachus) is a native of Brazil, 

 at least it has been found only in that country. It is 

 of rather smaller size than the other ; and its fur is 

 mottled in rather a peculiar manner, with large spots 

 of brown and dull white. The hairs in the spots are 

 brown at their origin, and golden near the tips. The 

 hair from the occiput is reflected forwards, forming a 

 sort of cowl over the top of the head, from which cir- 

 cumstance it has received the name of monk. The 

 tail is rather longer than the body, and very thick 

 and long in the hair toward the middle part. 



The Yellow-headed Saki (P. ocrocephala) is found in 

 nearly the same country with the white-headed one, 

 and is about the same size, so that it may perhaps be 

 nothing but a coloured variety, as not more than one 

 or two specimens of it have been observed. Its 

 colours are maroon _on the upper part, reddish-ash 

 with a trace of yellow on the under ; and the hands 

 and feet blackish-brown, with the hair on the front, 

 and that surrounding the face, ochre-yellow. 



Red-whiskered Saki (P. rufibarba). This species is 

 also described from a museum specimen, ascertained 

 to have come from the neighbourhood of Surinam. 

 Its body is blackish-brown above, and pale red below ; 

 the hair becomes very short toward the extremity of 

 the tail, which gives that organ a peculiarly pointed 

 appearance. There is no light colour upon this spe- 

 cies, except a small spot over each eye. 



The Miriquouina Saki (P. Miriquouina). This is a 

 species from a more southerly part of America than 

 those which we have hitherto noticed, and it is also 

 of far larger size. The only notice that we have of it 

 is in D'Azzara's Natural History of Paraguay ; but as 

 the descriptions of that author have been always 

 verified where subsequent observation has been prac- 

 ticable, we have no reason to doubt them where this 

 has not been the case. It is described as being two- 

 and-thirty inches long, exclusive of the tail, and 

 capable of being tamed, and docile when in that state. 

 Its chief habitat is described as being in the province 

 of Choca to the westward of the river Paraguay. It 

 has a very short tail, but very thickly beset with 

 hair ; its head is small and rounded ; and its eyes 

 large, with irides of a pale yellowish-brown. The 

 face is naked, except the cheeks, which are lightly 

 covered with white hairs ; the ears are very large 

 around it, and covered with short soft hair, and the 

 hair on the body is very long, thick, and woolly. All 

 the upper part of the body is of a pretty uniform 

 greyish-brown, formed by hairs which are annulated 

 with white and blackish-brown ; the under part of 

 the body is a very bright cinnamon colour ; the tail 

 is black, with the exception of a portion of the under 

 side, which is bright maroon. There is a white spot 

 over each eye, pointed upwards, something in the 

 shape of a little flame ; and altogether the markings, 

 as well as the size of the animal, point it out as a 

 well defined species. Those which we have enume- 



rated comprise all the species of this genus which are 

 known with any thing like distinctness ; and, as we 

 hinted in our enumeration of them, it is by no means 

 improbable that several of those which we have enu- 

 merated as distinct ought really to be looked upon as 

 nothing but coloured varieties. We shall now con- 

 sider the other genus which has sometimes been 

 mixed up with this, but which perhaps deserves in 

 strict propriety to be separated. 



BRACHIURUS. This genus does not differ very 

 much from the former in its essential particulars ; but 

 there are some few differences which may be marked. 

 Of these, perhaps the most characteristic is the muzzle 

 more produced than iathe others, and the short tail. 

 Some of them are also particularly ugly in their forms. 



The Devil Monkey or Couxis (B. Satanus). This 

 animal was first discovered in Brazil, and in appear- 

 ance it is unquestionably the most peculiar of the 

 race. Its total length, including that of the tail, 

 which is considerably shorter than the body, though 

 longer than the tails of the rest of the genus, is 

 about two feet nine inches. The colour is nearly 

 uniform sooty -brown, with a light trace of purple in 

 it, and altogether as grim a colour as can well be 

 imagined, its face is naked, and of a dull brown. Its 

 gape is ample, and its canine teeth very powerful. 

 The hair on the body is rather shaggy, and that on 

 the breast thin ; but when the animal sits on its tarsi 

 and its hands, a long beard depending from the whole 

 length of the under-jaw completely covers it. The 

 hands and feet are naked for a considerable way ; and 

 from the length of the hair upon the clothed parts, 

 the extreme length and tenderness of the tarsi, the 

 long and skinny hands, and the narrow pointed nails, 

 they seem fit appendages to what fancy pictures of a 

 hag or a harpy. Many well preserved specimens of 

 this curious species have been brought to Europe, 

 but very little is known respecting its manners. Its 

 aspect bespeaks an animal of rather a savage dispo- 

 sition ; but appearances of this description are not 

 always to be relied on, though the appearance of 

 large canine teeth very seldom fails. This animal 

 has been obtained from Guiana as well as from Brazil, 

 and it is said to frequent the borders of the deserts 

 rather than the woods ; but some caution is requisite 

 in every thing that can be said concerning it. 



The Capuchin Monkey (B. chiroptis). This species 

 has also been called the hard-drinking monkey ; and 

 in doing this it seems particularly careful not to wet 

 its beard, which it holds to one side while it carries water 

 to the mouth with the other hand. In its dimensions 

 and also in its form it is not unlike the last-mentioned 

 species, but its colours are different ; and the hair on 

 the head is turned up in a large tuft upon each temple ; 

 the face and forehead are naked; and the beard is of 

 immense length. The colour is brownish-red, the 

 beard darker ; the eyes are largo, and very deeply 

 set in the head ; and the nails on all the fingers are 

 bent, but they are not so on the thumbs. 



The Black-headed Monkey or Cacagoa (B. melano- 

 cepkalus] is a very curious species, and differs greatly 

 from the other two. It is comparatively a small spe- 

 cies, and the contrast of its colours is remarkable. 

 In the body it is not more than six inches long, and 

 the tail does not exceed two inches ; and it appears 

 as if clothed up to the neck, and down to the wrists 

 and ankles, in a close garment bearing some resem- 

 blance to a yellowish and dirty sheep skin. The 

 i real colour of this, the principal portion of the body 



