Part 54

Cebus azaræ, Rengger, Naturg. Säugeth., Paraguay, p. 26 (1830).

CHARACTERS.--Top of head black, with a band of the same colour passing in front of the ears, and terminating on the lower jaw; forehead, temples, and face, white; ear-tufts white; chin, throat, and upper side of feet white; upper side of tail, anterior part of the fore-feet and ankles, dusky; rest of body brown, lighter on the sides, becoming yellowish on the rump, the lower part of the body, and the under side of the tail. Length of the body, 17 inches; of the tail, 19 inches.

FEMALE.--Paler in colour above than the male; the dark colour of the tail and of the limbs more extended.

{220}DISTRIBUTION.--Paraguay.

HABITS.--This rare Capuchin lives, as Azara relates, in the forests of Paraguay, and is met with both in single couples and in small troops. They are very lively little animals, ever in motion, swinging themselves from tree to tree by means of their tails, the mothers of the company generally carrying their single young one on their back. When once tamed they become very affectionate; when angry they can give vent to excruciating screams. Their ordinary voice resembles that of someone laughing with all their might, and crying Hu! hu! hu!

Only once has a specimen of this Capuchin been an inmate of the Zoological Gardens in London.

XVIII. SCHLEGEL'S CAPUCHIN. CEBUS FALLAX.

Cebus fallax, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 210 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--In colour closely resembling C. fatuellus, but the hair is longer all over, silky, and of a dusky hue, especially on the hinder part of the body. The lumbar vertebræ are four in number, and there are also fourteen pairs of ribs.

DISTRIBUTION.--Unknown.

THE WOOLLY MONKEYS. GENUS LAGOTHRIX.

Lagothrix, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 106 (1812).

The animals grouped under the genus Lagothrix are readily distinguished by having a heavy body, and a rounded head, with the muzzle much flattened, and the nostrils nearly circular, but not approximated. More conspicuous than any other external character is the woolliness of their under-fur.

The name Lagothrix was given by Humboldt to the first specimen he found, because of the similarity of its fur to that {221}of the hare, and hence this name, from [Greek: lagôs], a hare, and [Greek: thrix, trichos], hair, was adopted for the new genus, which was afterwards established by Geoffroy St. Hilaire.

The hair of the crown is short and directed backwards; the tail is long and perfectly prehensile, being naked and sensitive for a considerable distance back from the tip. The limbs are moderately long, and the thumb and great-toe are well developed, the nails of the digits being compressed and pointed.

In regard to the skeleton, the skull of Lagothrix, as Dr. Slack points out, can be readily distinguished from that of the Capuchins by a broad, well-marked, articulation taking place between the pre-maxillary and the nasal bones at right angles to the suture between the latter, while in the Capuchins no true articulation takes place between these bones. The lower jaw is larger than in Cebus, approaching the size and form of Mycetes. The incisor teeth are small and unequal, the upper inner incisor being the largest; the canines are very large and grooved in front.

The Woolly Monkeys are slow in motion, gregarious, diurnal, and arboreal. The "Barrigudos," as they are called by the Portuguese colonists, live exclusively on fruits, and are larger and less active than the Capuchins. They are confined to the forests of the Ecuador district of the Upper Amazon Valley, and along the slopes of the Andes, north to Venezuela and south to Bolivia.

They are of a mild disposition, and, as Mr. Wallace remarks, they are the species "most frequently seen in confinement, and are great favourites, from their grave countenances, which resemble the human face more than those of any other Monkeys, their quiet manners, and the great affection and docility they exhibit."

{222}I. HUMBOLDT'S WOOLLY MONKEY. LAGOTHRIX LAGOTHRIX.

Simia lagothrica, Humb. and Bonpl., Obs. Zool., i., p. 322 (1811).

Lagothrix cana, Id. tom. cit. i., p. 354 (1811).

Lagothrix lagotricha, Id. tom. cit. p. 354.

Lagothrix humboldtii, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 107 (1812); Scl., P. Z. S., 1863, p. 374, pl. xxxi.; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 162 (1876, part.).

Lagothrix canus, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 107 (1812).

Gastrimargus olivaceus, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 39, pl. 28 (1823).

Lagothrix tschudii, Pucher., Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1857, p. 296.

Lagothrix geoffroyi, Pucher., t. c. p. 297.

Lagothrix cana, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 162 (1876; part.).