MO-NOGEROS, 



283 



is seldom seen on the coast, describes it as one of the 

 smallest, and at the same time the most elegant, of all 

 the monkey race. The Indians of that part of the 

 country where it is to be met with are very partial to 



it, and fond of keeping it in their cabins whenever 

 they can procure it. Humboldt, however, saw but 

 two individuals in the course of his travels ; and one 

 of these had been carried alive from the western side 

 of the eastmost or innermost Cordillera of Andes. 

 These little animals, when kept in a cage, are con- 

 tinually in motion, like squirrels, and their motions 

 are equally rapid. They are very gay and playful, 

 but remarkably short tempered ; and when they are 

 irritated they put on a most formidable appearance, 

 considering their trifling size : their manes bristle up, 

 their threats are distended, their eyes glisten, their 

 teeth are shown, they lash themselves with their tails ; 

 and not Bottom himself, in the Midsummer Nights' 

 Dream, could play the lion to better perfection than 

 it is played by these small animals. They agree 

 more, however, with Bottom's emended or piano 

 lionising than with his original forte, which was in 

 danger of frightening the ladies ; for " they roar you 

 an it were any sucking turtle." In a word, they are 

 exceedingly interesting little animals, and so familiar 

 in their manners that they breed in confinement ; but 

 they are very delicate, so that it would be difficult to 

 preserve them alive for any length of time in cold 

 climates. In the upper valley of the Amazon, and 

 those of its effluents, they are by no means rare ; but 

 we are not aware that they have been observed either 

 in Guiana or Brazil. Those which Humboldt saw 

 alive in cages were so constantly in motion that it 

 was scarcely possible to make drawings of them ; and 

 therefore the figures which are given in the books 

 are not to be implicitly depended on, more especially 

 those which have passed through the hands of igno- 

 rant copyists, and have been got up at a cheap rate 

 more for show than for use. 



The White-lipped Tamarin (M. labiatus}. This 

 species is very remarkable for its colours. The back 

 and the outsides of the fore' arms and thighs are 

 brown, dotted with reddish white ; the feet, the head, 

 and the tail, are blackish ; the inner surface of the 

 legs, the under part of the body, and the under side 

 of the tail near its origin, are bright reddish ; the 

 nape is reddish-yellow ; and the lips are surrounded 

 with a border of short white hairs, forming a striking 

 contrast with the dark colour of the surrounding 

 parts. This is a stmll specie?, and hitherto it has 

 been found onlv in Braz.il. 



The Golden-yellow and Black Tamarine (M. chry~ 

 somelas). This species has its colours very strongly 

 marked. Generally speaking, it is black, with the 

 front and the lower side of the tail golden-yellow, 

 and the fore-arms, the knees, the breast, and the 

 sides of the head, maroon-red. It is found in the 

 thick forests of Brazil, and also in all the country to 

 the south of the Amazon. The face and throat are 

 surrounded with very long hairs, generally of a golden- 

 yellow colour, but often with more or less of maroon- 

 red. This species differs considerably from most of 

 the others in the tail, which is not above one-fourth 

 part the length of the body ; and the body itself is 

 only between seven and eight inches. 



The Golden-buttocked Tamarin (7I/. chrysopygus). 

 The general covering of this species is also black ; 

 but the inner parts of the thighs and the buttocks are 

 golden-yellow ; the forehead is yellowish ; and there 

 is a long mane of black hairs which descends from 

 the head, neck, and throat, and falls so low down as 

 completely to cover the arms and a considerable por- 

 tion of the shoulders and back. This species, which 

 is well marked, is larger than some of the rest, being 

 about ten inches and a half in length, with the tail 

 half the length of the body. 



Such is a general list of the monkeys in all their 

 leading species and varieties, both in the eastern 

 world and in the western. Taking them individually, 

 they are not animals of a very high degree of interest, 

 and they may be said to be of no value to man in an 

 economical point of view ; but they are far more 

 numerous than any other family of tropical mammalia, 

 and therefore highly characteristic of wild nature in 

 those countries to which they belong. The American 

 ones are unquestionably the most singular of the 

 whole, and therefore we have described them with 

 the greatest minuteness. 



There is another reason why this should be done : 

 South America is at this moment the portion of the 

 world where natural history is least known to Euro- 

 peans, because of the jealousy both of the Spaniards 

 and Portuguese, while they held the greater part of 

 it as colonies. Their sway is, however, now at an 

 end ; the country is equally open and inviting to in- 

 quirers ; and there is no doubt that the many enter- 

 prising and scientific travellers who are at present 

 engaged in exploring it will make valuable additions 

 to natural knowledge. 



MONOCEROS (Lamarck ; BUCCINUM, Linmeus). 

 The Linnscan genus JSuccinum included the Purpurce 

 of the modern school, and this was separated from 

 them by Lamarck, in consequence of its constantly 

 possessing a thin, conical, somewhat curved tooth- 

 like appendage at the base of the right side of 

 the aperture : we may also add that in some species 

 of this mollusc the spire is more elevated than 

 in others ; the exterior surface of the whorls is cari- 

 nated and angular, smooth, or with small imbricated 

 scales in transverse rows; the aperture internally 

 grooved, and we possess a species from the South 

 Seas, whose right side of the opening near the edge 

 presents one or more rows of small tubercles in ad- 

 dition to the tooth ; from the growth of the tooth an 

 internal rib is formed, which generally causes a cor- 

 responding groove on the exterior. Lamarck's type 

 of this genus, M. cingulatum, possesses some singula- 

 rities : its columella is not smooth, but irregularly 

 plaited or wrinkled, and the tooth does not extend 

 within the interior of the whorls, as in most of the 



