MARMOSETS. 191 



was not steady a moment, but was constantly turning its head round from side to 

 side, eyeing every person with the most suspicious and angry look. Its sense of 

 hearing appeared to be excessively acute, so that the slightest whisper was sure 

 to arouse it. The voice of this little animal was peculiarly sharp and disagreeable, 

 consisting of a very quick succession of harsh and shrill sounds (imitated by the 

 name ouistiti), so loud, that they might be heard from the remotest part of the 

 ship. 



" For a considerable time there was no evident change in its habits, as it 

 continued to be nearly as wild as when I first got it, and showed none of the 

 playfulness and vivacity which characterise most of the monkey tribe. As long 

 as the fruit which we had on board lasted, it would eat nothing else ; but, when 

 these failed, we soon discovered a most agreeable substitute, which it appeared to 

 relish above everything. By chance we observed it devouring a large cockroach 

 which it had caught running along the deck of the vessel ; and from this time 

 till nearly the end of the voyage a space of four or five weeks it fed almost 

 exclusively on these insects, and contributed most effectually to rid the vessel pf 

 them. It frequently ate a score of the largest kind, which are 2 or 2J inches 

 long, and a very great number of the smaller ones, two or three times in the course 

 of the day. It was quite amusing to see it at its meal. When he had got hold of 

 one of the large cockroaches, he held it in his fore-paws, and then invariably 

 nipped the head off first ; he then pulled out the viscera and cast them aside, and 

 devoured the rest of the body, rejecting the dry elytra and wings, and also the 

 legs of the insect, w r hich are covered with short, stiff bristles. The small cock- 

 roaches he ate without such fastidious nicety. In addition to these, we gave him 

 milk, sugar, raisins, and crumbs of bread. Hitherto the weather was warm, the 

 thermometer never being below 65 or 60 Fahr.; but as we reached a more 

 northern latitude, and approached England, the change of temperature affected 

 the monkey very considerably, and now he would not even touch the cockroaches 

 when given to him ; the hair, especially that on the tail, fell off; and, at the end 

 of the voyage, this organ was almost quite bare and naked. He kept constantly 

 in the kennel, rolling himself up in a piece of flannel, which had been put in for 

 warmth, except when he could reach a sunny part of the deck, where he might 

 bask in the heat. There was a considerable continuance of cold north-easterly 

 winds, the thermometer ranging as low as from 42 to 36, and as the monkey ate 

 little or nothing, and was quite inactive, I hardly expected to have kept it alive. 



" When I got it on shore I kept it for some days in a warm room ; it gradually 

 recovered its nimbleness, running about the room, and dragging its kennel after 

 it. Even then it would not eat any insects, and its food consisted of milk and 

 crumbs of bread ; it was particularly fond of any sweet preserve, as jelly, and of 

 ripe fresh fruits." 



Mr. Bates, who compares the ouistiti to a kitten, banded with black and 

 grey all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long white hairs around 

 the ears, only observed this marmoset in the neighbourhood of Para. On a certain 

 occasion he observed one of these animals comfortably seated on the shoulders 

 of a mulatto girl, whom he met walking in Para ; and, on inquiry, learnt that it 

 had been captured in the island of Marajo, at the mouth of the Amazon. 



