_Simia jacchus_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 40 (1766).
_Jacchus pencillatus_, Geoffr. Ann. Mus., xix., p. 119 (1812); Spix, t.
c. p. 34, pl. 26 (1823).
_Jacchus leucocephalus_, Geoffr., t. c. p. 119.
_Jacchus vulgaris_, Geoffr., t. c. p. 119; Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus.,
p. 63 (1870, in part).
_Hapale jacchus_, Kuhl, Beitr., Zool., p. 46 (1820); Schleg., Mus. Pays
Bas, vii., p. 271 (1876).
_Hapale albicollis_, Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras., p. 33, pl. 25 (1823);
Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 59 (1851).
CHARACTERS.--Head small; eyes gentle; nose flat; face black, with a white
spot in front; ears naked, with a tuft of long hairs on the front edge of
its opening, either black, white, or grey; hair of the sides of the head
elongated; back cross-banded with black and grey, the hair at the base
dusky, reddish-brown in the middle, grey at the top. Tail banded with black
or grey.
Several species have been described under the names of the White-necked
Marmoset (_H. albicollis_, Spix), the Black-eared Marmoset (_H.
penicillata_, Kuhl), and the White-headed Marmoset (_H. leucocephala_,
Kuhl), but Dr. Gray considered these to be only varieties of the common
species, which has {133}sometimes the head and neck greyish-white, or the
head, neck and ear-tufts black, or the head alone white.
DISTRIBUTION.--Island of Marajo, at the mouth of the Amazon.
HABITS.--The Common Marmoset is an inhabitant of the forests, feeding
chiefly on fruits and insects. It is very susceptible to cold, and lives
but a short time when removed from the tropics, unless extreme care be
taken. Mr. Bates, the author of "The Naturalist on the River Amazons,"
states that when in Para, he counted in a short time thirteen different
species of Monkey in semi-domestication in the city, either at the doors or
windows of houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them he did not meet
with afterwards in any other part of the country. One of these was the
well-known _Hapale jacchus_, a little creature resembling a Kitten, banded
with black and grey all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long
white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the shoulder of a young
mulatto girl as she was walking about the street, and he was told that it
had been captured in the island of Marajo.