ORDER QUADRUMANA. 311 



European climates only by the utmost care in guarding it 

 from the operation of atmospheric temperature. The cold 

 and humidity of our winters are fatally injurious to its 

 health. Neatness and cleanliness to a fastidious degree, 

 are constitutional traits of the Marikina, and the greatest 

 possible attention must be paid to it in this way, in a state 

 of captivity. The slightest degree of dirt annoys them 

 beyond measure, they lose their gaiety, and die of melan- 

 choly and disgust. They are animals of the most excessive 

 delicacy, and it is not easy to procure them suitable nourish- 

 ment. They cannot accustom themselves to live alone, 

 and solitude is pernicious to them in an exact proportion to 

 the degree of tenderness and care with which they have 

 been habitually treated. The most certain means of pre- 

 serving their existence, is to unite them to other individuals 

 of their own species, and more especially to those of an 

 opposite sex. They will soon accustom themselves to live 

 on milk, biscuit, fyc, but mild and ripe fruit is most agree- 

 able to their taste, which to a certain degree is also in- 

 sectivorous. Their mode of living in a state of nature is little 

 known, but resembles in all probability that of squirrels. 

 Like those, it is probable that they dwell mostly in trees, 

 whose thick foliage in their native climates affords a secure 

 and sheltering retreat. If we may judge of an animal's 

 natural habits from observing it in a state of captivity, we 

 should say that the Marikina had no fixed nest or abode, to 

 which it repaired for the purposes of repose. All animals 

 which in a state of nature have any fixed retreat of this 

 kind, are endowed with the instinct of keeping it in a 

 state of extreme cleanliness. The Marikina in the French 

 Menagerie, mentioned by F. Cuvier, had not this quality. 

 Most probably he had lost it by the effect of slavery, which 

 is always more or less injurious to the development of 

 natural instincts. 

 This animal would conceal himself when affected by the 



