GENUS MYCETES— THE HOWLERS. 



171 



put points forwards, occasioning a very small tuft at the vertex. On the 

 temples and cheeks it is of the same colour, but very long ; the beard is 

 very broad and bushy. The hair of the arms from the shoulder to the 

 elbow, as well as of the bacit, sides, breast, and abdomen, is bright yel- 

 lowish-red ; that of the fore-arms, hands, thighs, legs, and tail, of a very 

 deep brownish-red. The tail is as long as the body and head taken to- 

 gether. 



2. MYCETES URSINUS URSINE HOWLER. 



Si/n- L'Alouate ourson — Cuv. Reg. Anira. I. 99. 



Stentor URsrNUS. — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



Mycetes uasiNUS. — Kuhl. Beitr.-Desm. Mara— Pr. Max." Beitr. II. 48. 



Cebus uksinus. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. 



SiMiA Ursina (Araguato de Caracas). — Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 329 and 

 355. 

 Icon. Mycetes ursinus.* — Pr. Max. Abbild.^ 



Hurab. Obs. Zool. pi. 30. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



The Hair reddish-brown throughout, scanty on the abdomen ; the 

 beard strong and thick. 



The Face naked and blackish. 



The naked portion of the Tail black. 



Inhabits Brazil. 



The Ursine Howler does not differ greatly from the preceding 

 species. 



It abounds in the primitive forests of Brazil, wliere it interrupts the 

 silence of night by its stunning howl, resembling the sound of a drum. 

 The natives regard it as very excellent game, especially in winter, when 

 it is very fat. Being of a very mild nature, it is easily tamed when taken 

 young J but the slowness of its movements, and the disagreeable mono- 

 tony of its howl, must render it by no means a very agreeable domestic 

 animal. It appears to inhabit a great portion of South America. 



The hair, which is of a uniform reddisli-brown, is much darker in the 

 young, but approaches in the adult to a rusty red, or reddish-brown. M. 

 Humboldt, who frequently observed the females carrying their young upon 

 the shoulders, did not remark any diiference in the colours of the sexes. 

 They are found in immense numbers, sometimes as many as forty being 

 seen on a single tree. The leaves of trees, rather than the fruit, appear 

 to be their habitual food. When domesticated, they are more steady 

 than most other Monkeys, and apparently of a less delicate constitution. 



Var. Fusccis. — Brown Howler. 

 Syn. Stentor fdscds. — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



Mycetes fuscds Desm. Mam. — Kuhl. Beitr. 



Icon. Spix,'t Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 30. (Mycetes fuscus mas.) 



This is considered by some to be the Ouarine of Biiffon, but it under- 

 goes much variation. Though generally of a dark chestnut brown, with 

 the back and head passing to a briglit chestnut, and the points of the 

 hairs golden yellow, it seems scarcely distinguishable from the Ursine 

 Howler already described. 



There appear to be some other species, which are of a black, 

 brown, or paler colour. In one of them this pale tint is ascertained 

 to belong to the female [and young]. 



3. MYCETES CHRYSURUS GOLDEN-TAILED HOWLER. 



Syn. Stentor chrysurus (L'Hurleur a queue doree) Isid. Geoff. Mem. Mus. 



XVI L 

 Icon. Isid. Geoff. Etud. Zool. pi. 7 (Mammiferes). 



SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. 



The Hair of the back, sides, and hinder half of the tail, bright golden 

 yellow ; elsewhere dark chestnut brown. 



The Face almost naked. 



Inhabits Columbia. 



The Golden-tailed has long been confounded with the Ursine Howler. 

 It occurs frequently on the banks of the Magdalena, where it is known 

 by the name of Araguato, which term is applied indiscriminately to se- 

 veral different species of Monkeys, all agreeing, however, in having a beard. 



Like most other Monkeys, it lives in troops. M. Roulin informs us, that 

 when a troop of these Howlers is passing from one tree to another, all 

 the individuals composing it act in a manner precisely similar to each 

 other, as in the school-bo\s' game of " foUow-the-leader ;" they leap suc- 

 cessively to the same points, and place their hands in the same positions, 

 as if each individual were obliged to imitate the motions of the animal 

 preceding it. 



On the hinder half of the tail, and on the upper surface of the body, 

 from the shoulders to the insertion of the tail, the hair is of a very bril- 

 liant golden yellow ; on the rest of the tail it is of a light chestnut brown ; 

 while on the remainder of the body, head, and limbs, it is of a very dark 

 chestnut brown, especially on the limbs, whereit merges into a violaceous 

 tint. The face is almost wholly naked, but less so than in the Royal 

 Howler. 



4. MYCETES NIGER.— BLACK HOWLER. 

 Syn. Stentor nicer. — Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. — Desm. Mam. 

 Ceel's Caraya. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. 

 StMA Cakaya. — Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 355. 

 My'cetes NIGER. — Pr. Max. Beitr. II. 66. 



Le Cakaya D'Azara,' Quadr. Parag. II. p. 208. 



Icon. MyciiTes earbatus." — Spix, Sim. et Vespert Bras. pi. 32 (male) lb. 



pi. 33 (fern, and young). 

 Mycetes niger. — Pr. Max. Abbild. (fern). 



specific characters, 

 the male. 

 The Hair soft and long; entirely black, tending to reddish on the breast; 

 the beard very long. 



THE FEMALE AND YOUNG. 



The Hair light greyish-yellow. 



Inhabits Brazil. 



This Howler, called Biigiu by the Brazilians, is found plentifully in the 

 interior of Minas Geraes and Bahia, among the low forests, distinguished 

 by the name of Catinga. They live much retired, but always in numerous 

 troops. In some parts of Bahia, the males are becoming very rare, owing 

 to their being much hunted for their elegant black fur, which is used for 

 ornamenting hats and saddles. They have the sagacity, when attacked, 

 of sheltering themselves behind trunks and branches; and unless surprised 

 by a sudden shot, they place themselves in such a position, that their 

 bodies when depiived of life cannot fall to the ground. On this account 

 the hunter loses the greater part of his game, as the trees which they fre- 

 quent are almost inaccessible. The flesh of this species is preferred by 

 tlie Portuguese and South American Indians to that of Ducks and several 

 other animals. 



The Black Howler is generally very corpulent. Its hair is plentiful 

 above, but very scanty on the interior surface of the entire body, e.xcept- 

 ing on the centre of tlie breast, where there is a tuft of black hairs found 

 in both sexes. Tlie hair of the body, limbs, tail, and beard, is of a shin- 

 ing black in the adult male; on the top of the head and back of the neck 

 it tends slightly to a brown, and to a greyish-white on the fingers. The 

 hairs lie flat on the back and tail, are directed forwards on the top of the 

 head ; while they are short, straight, and directed backwards, on the fore- 

 head. The entire face is surrounded by a very dense beard ; but is naked 

 on the forehead, beneath the eyes, on the lips and chin, with a few scat- 

 tered black, stiff, and short hairs, mixed with others of considerable length. 

 The ears are round, very distinct, and slightly hairy behind. The tail is 

 nearly as long as the body, very thick, with about a fourth part of its 

 under surface callous, and sloping gradually to a point. The nails are 

 rather long, black, slightly curved, and the thumb of the hinder-hands 

 flattened. Its voice resembles the croaking of a Frog. The female has 

 the same characters, excepting that her body is less corpulent ; the back, 

 and sometimes the upper surface of the tail, is blackish ; the remainder of 

 the body of a greyish-yellow, the beard less dense, shorter, divided near 

 the throat, and of a greyish or reddish-yellow. The forehead is broader, 

 and marked on the sides and at the centre of the forehead by dark brown 

 lines ; the tail is less thick and callous beneath for nearly one-half of its 

 length. The young have the same characters as the females, excepting 

 that the dark hues become deeper with their age. 



1 Pb. Max. Beitr — Beitriige zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien, von Maximilian, Prinzen zu Wied. Weimar, 1825. 



2 Regarding the Mycetes ursinus of Prince Maximilian, the Baron Cuvier remarks, *' It appears to be much browner than the ursinus of M. GeofTroy, and to approach 

 more nearly to the W. fuscus or the il. discolor of Spix, pi. 30 and 34. It is this last which appears to be the Stentor fuscus of GeolF." We do not coincide in this opinion 

 of the Baron. It appears to us that Spix, pi. 3-t (M. discolor), is the Cebus Belzebul of Erxleben, and merely a variety of the Stentor niger of Geoffrey; while Spix, pi. 

 30 (M. fuscus), is identical with the S. fuscus of GeofTroy, and a variety of the M. ursinus. See the Synonyms in the text. 



■5 Pr. i\lAX. Abbild Abbildungen zur Naturgeschichte Brasiliens, herausgeo-eben von Maximilian, Prinzen von Wied. Weimar, 1824 — 1831. 



^ ^ 4 Spix, Sjm. et V'espekt. Bras. — Simiarura et Vespertilionum Brasiliensium Species Novce, ou Histoire Naturelle des Especes Nouvelles de Singes et de Cliauve 

 Souris, observecs et recueillies pendant le voyage daus finterieur du Bresil, execute par ordre de S. M. Le Roi de Baviere, dans les annees 1817 a 1820, publiee par Joan 

 de Spix. Monachii, 1823. 



^ D AzARA, Quadr. Parag Essais sur I'Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes de la Province du Paraguay, par Don Felix d'Azara, ecrits depuis 1783 jusqu' en 179b', 



traduits par M. L. E. Moreau-Saint-Mery, Paris, 1801. 



c Marcgravius (Bras. 227) describes a species of Howler entirely black and bearded. The figure will be found at p. 228 of that vTork, but under the erroneous name 

 oi Exquima. It seems to be the Mycetes barbatus of Spix, pi. 32. The female, pi. 33, is of a pale yellowish-grey, and the male will be found to be (he ilycctes niger iif 

 Kuhl and Prince Maximilian of Wied Neuwied. The Caraya of Azara, said to be black, with the breast and belly dark red, and the female of which is brownish, will pro- 

 bably belong to this species. — Note of the Baron Ciwier. 



