184 



ORDER QUADRUMANA.— GENUS NYCTIPITHECUS. 



Of all the animals of its kind, the Capuchin Fox-tail is that one whose 

 features most resemble those of Man. His eyes have an expression of 

 melancholy, not free from ferocity. As the chin is hid under his busby 

 beard, the facial line appears larger than it really is. He is a strong ani- 

 mal, agile, ferocious, and scarcely tameable. When irritated, he starts back 

 on his hind feet, grinds his teeth, pulls the end of his beard, and leaps with 

 threatening gestures around his assailant. In the fits of his ire I have 

 often seen him, says Humboldt, fix his teeth deep in a wooden plank. He 

 generally maintains a sullen sadness, which is interrupted only at the sight 

 of some favourite food. He drinks but seldom, and in a way which differs 

 remarkably from the other American Monkeys, who raise the cup pre- 

 sented to diem to the lip. The Capuchin, on the contrary, drinks from 

 the hollow of his hand, at the same time turning his head to a side. This 

 is a tedious operation, which he performs with either hand, and only 

 when he imagines he is unobserved. Hei becomes quite furious when 

 any one wets his beard ; and it would appear that it is to avoid this an- 

 noyance that he resorts to his peculiar mode of drinking. 



These Monkeys do not live in troops, but in pairs only, in the forest. 

 They are found in the vast deserts in the High Orinoco, to the south and 

 east of the Cataracts, and appear to be unknown in most of the neigh- 

 bouring provinces. The Priest Juan Gonzahs, who was intimately ac- 

 quainted with the locality they frequent, informed Baron Humboldt that 

 the native Indians devour these animals in great numbers at certain sea- 

 sons of the year. 



, BOnLTFUL SPECIES. 



1. PiTHECiA IN0STA (Spix, Sim- et Vespert. Bras. pi. 10) is suspected 

 by Temminck to be identical with P. hirsuta. It is about one-third 

 smaller, and the head is wholly ferrugineous. 



2. SiMiA Sagulata, The Jacketed Monkey (Traill, in the Memoirs of 

 the Wernerian Society, vol. iii.) is conjectured by Fischer to be a Pithecia 

 Satanas. 



To this Catalogue we have nothing to add, except that our examina- 

 tiim inclines us to agree in the justness of the suspicions expressed by 

 Temminck and Fischer. 



imaginary species. 



1 . P. ochkocephala (Kuhl, Beitr.) is the female or young of P. leu- 

 cocephala. 



2. P. rufiearbata (Kuhl and Desm.) is absolutely identical with P. 

 xufiventer. This is the Simia Pithecia of Linnseus. 



3. P. capillamentosa of Spix is merely a duplicate of P. rufiventer. 



4. Bkachyhrds IsRAELiTA of Spix is the young of P. Satanas. 



GENUS VIII. NYCTIPITHECUS.— NIGHT-MONKEYS. 



Syn. Les Nocthores. — F. Cuv. Hist. Mam. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. lOi. 



AoTUS Illig. Prodr. 



NYCTIPITHECUS. — Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



The Head round and broad. The Muzzle short. The Facial 

 Angle about 60°. 

 I The Eyes very large and approximated. The Ears very small. 

 The N.AILS short. Habits nocturnal. 

 The Tail longer than the body. 

 Inhabit Guiana and Brazil. 



To the Night-Monkej's lUiger has very improperly assigned the 

 generic term Aotus (Earless). They differ from the other Sagoins, 

 merely by their large nocturnal eyes, and their ears are partly con- 

 cealed under the hair. 



All these animals come from Guiana or Brazil. 



It was the Baron Humboldt who proposed the establishment of this genus 

 for the arrangement of the Douroucouli, which he discovered in the forests 

 of the Orinoco. He designated it Aotes {xaro;'), earless ; but as this was 

 a character which was inapplicable to the animal, Spix substituted the 

 appellation Nyctipithecus (Night- Monkey), which, taken from one of its 

 most striking characteristics, has been generally adopted. 



The generic characters are distinctly marked. The head is round and 

 very broad ; the muzzle is short ; the eyes nocturnal, very large, and near 

 each other ; the ears are very small ; the tail is longer than the body, not 

 prehensile, covered with hair ; each foot has five toes, and the nails are 

 flat. In all these particulars, the Nyctipitheci have a strong resemblance 

 to the Loris of the ancient Continent. For a long time the animal intro- 

 duced by Humboldt was the only species of the genus : lately, two 

 more have been added by Spix, who thinks it higlily probable there are 

 others. 



NYCTIPITHECUS TRIVIRGATUS.- 

 NIGHT-MONKEY. 



-HUMBOLDrS 



Syn. Le Douuoucoull — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 101-. 



Actus Humboldtu. — Illig. Prodr Schinz. Thierr. 



Actus trivirgata Geoff. Ann. RIus. XIX. 



Slmia trivirgata (DouRCucouLi) Humb. Obs. Zool. p. 307 and 358. 



Icon. Humb- Obs. Zool. pi. 28. 



Douroucouli (fera.) — F. Cuv. et Geoff. Hist. Mam. 



SPECIFIC characters. 



The Hair grey, mixed with white, a brown band along the back. 

 The Face bhickish. Hands white. 

 Inhabits Guiana. 



The Baron Humboldt, who discovered this animal, observes that it is 

 the most remarkable he had met in Guiana. It differs from its con- 

 geners not only in the form of its teeth and ears, but still more in its 

 habits, the size of its eyes, and in the whole of its physiognomy, which 

 very much resembles one of the Loris (Stenops) of the Old World. It is 

 strikingly characterized by its head being cat-like, by its large yellow eyes, 

 which cannot support the light ; by the smallness of the external ear, and 

 by its unreprehensile tail being much longer than its body. 



This Night-Monkey is generally of a grey colour mixed with white, 

 with a brownish hne running along the back ; the lower parts of the body 

 have an orange yellow tint. The head, and especially the forehead, is 

 marked with three black streaks which descend tO' the eye. The face is 

 covered with blackish hair ; the beautifully yellow eyes are of an enor- 

 mous size when compared with the magnitude of the animal. The mouth 

 is surrounded with white and short bristles. The hands and soles of the 

 feet are white. The tail, which exceeds the length of the body by about 

 a half, is of the same colour as the back, and tipt with black. The whole 

 fur is soft and pleasant to the touch, and is used by the natives for to- 

 bacco-pouches and such like purposes. M. Geoffroy-St-Hilaire gives the 

 vertebrse as follows ; cervical?; dorsal 14 ; lumbar 9 ; sacral 2 ; coccy- 

 geal 18. (Cours d'Hist. Nat. in loco.) 



The Douroucouli sleeps throughout the whole day, and is much an- 

 noyed by the light. Hence it retires into some shady corner, or into the 

 hollow of a tree. If roused during the day, it is not only sad, but lethar- 

 gic. It often sits like a Dog, with its back bent, the four feet collected 

 under it, and its head resting on the fore paws. It is gentle during the 

 day-time, and may be handled with impunity. It is, however, as active 

 during the night, as it is stupid during the day. Its vision now improves, 

 and it preys upon Birds, and especially Insects. When in New Barcel- 

 lona, I used, says Humboldt, to keep one in my bed-room, and it unceas- 

 ingly vaulted about, and made a great noise. It also eats vegetables, 

 especially sugar-cane, dates, and almonds, and flies, which it catches with 

 great address. Upon the whole, however, it eats but little, and it has 

 been observed not to drink for twenty or thirty days. 



According to Humboldt, it is exceedingly difficult to tame this Monkey. 

 At all events, says the Baron, my companion only snapt at all the caresses 

 bestowed upon him. He puffed like a Cat, and violently struck with his 

 claws. M. F. Cuvier's experience, however, on this point, was differ- 

 ent ; the individual which be possessed, a female, being very gentle. Its 

 night-cry (inuh, muh) resembles that of the Jaguar, and ils strength is 

 quite extraordinary for so small an animal. It has also other cries, which 

 are very peculiar. 



2. NYCTIPITHECUS FELINUS CAT-FACED NIGHT-MONKEY. 



Syn. Nyctipithecus felinus (Le Singe-de-nuit a face-de-chat). — Spix, p. 25. 

 — Less, in Diet. Class. XV. 



Cebus felinus Fiscli. Syn. Mam. 



Icon. Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras. pi. 18 (fem.) 



specific characters. 



The Hair ash-coloured above, reddish beneath. 



The Face and Hands white. The Male has a beard. Tail longer 

 than the body. 

 Inhabits Para. 



Our acquaintance with this and the succeeding species, as already 

 stated, we owe to Spix, who has given figures of both. This Night- Mon- 

 key is cat-faced ; its visage is lean, its mouth large, and its eyes red and 

 very large. The greater part of the face is white. The body is slender. 

 The hair rising from the forehead and cheeks is black, and inclines back- 

 wards. The ears are conspicuous, oblong, naked, clad only at their mar- 

 gins. The male has a heard. The fur above is close, ash-coloured ; 

 beneath, reddish. The tail is somewhat larger than the body, and chiefly 

 black. 



Spix procured this animal in Para, and kept it long in domestication. 

 It fed upon rice. 



