_Simia monachus_, Humb. and Bonpl., Obs. Zool., p. 359 (1811).
{183}_Pithecia monachus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 116 (1812);
Flower, P. Z. S., 1862, p. 326, pl. xxxvii.; Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit.
Mus., p. 59 (1870).
_Pithecia hirsuta_, Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras., p. 14, pl. 9 (1823).
_Pithecia inusta_, Spix, t. c. p. 15, pl. x. (1823).
_Pithecia irrorata_, Gray, Voy. Sulphur, Zool., p. 14, pl. 3 (1844).
_Pithecia albicans_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1860, p. 231, pl. lxxxi.
_Pithecia monacha_, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 220 (1876).
CHARACTERS.--Fur harsh, long and loose, with a hood of forwardly-directed
hairs on the upper part of the head, neck, and shoulders. Face bare, long,
and narrow; nose large and full; nostrils widely separated and lateral.
Face dark purplish-brown, and black on the nose, paler round the eyes, and
sparingly covered with short coarse whitish hairs; a yellowish-white patch
on the cheeks, terminating in front in a distinct line from the inner
corner of the eye to below the angle of the mouth; margin of upper lips
white; ears large, round, naked, and of the same colour as the face; upper
part and back of head, neck, shoulders, back, arms, thighs, and tail,
black, washed with yellowish-white, becoming yellowish-brown on the hinder
part of the body. Throat, breast, under side of body, and inside of thighs,
pale yellowish-brown, sparingly haired. Tail 18 inches long, cylindrical,
and bushy at the end; the hair long, coarse, curled, black, washed with
pale yellowish-brown. Legs black; fore-arm black, washed with white; upper
surface of hands, feet, and digits, white. Hands small, thumbs short,
parallel to the other fingers; nails black, somewhat compressed, pointed,
that of the thumb flatter; great-toe well developed, standing apart from
the other toes, its nail flat {184}and pointed; nails of the other toes
long, curved, and compressed.
DISTRIBUTION.--Mr. Bates states that the "Parauacú," as this Monkey is
called by the natives of its own country, is found on the "terra firma"
lands of the north shore of the Solimoens, or Upper Amazon, from Tunantins
to Peru. It exists also on the south side of the river on the banks of the
Teffé, but there under a changed form, which differs from its type in
colours, as much as the red differs from the white Uakarí. This variety is
Dr. Gray's _Pithecia albicans_.
HABITS.--The Hairy Saki is a very timid and inoffensive animal, and is
also, as Mr. Bates tells us in his well-known book, "very delicate, rarely
living many weeks in captivity; but anyone who succeeds in keeping it alive
for a month or two, gains by it a most affectionate pet. One of the
specimens now in the British Museum was, when living, the property of a
neighbour of mine at Ega. It became so tame in the course of a few weeks
that it followed him about the streets like a dog. My friend was a tailor,
and the little pet used to spend the greater part of the day seated on his
shoulder whilst he was at work on his board. It showed, nevertheless, great
dislike to strangers, and was not on good terms with any other member of my
friend's household than himself.... The eager and passionate _Cebi_ seem to
take the lead of all the South American Monkeys in intelligence and
docility, and the Coaita, one of the Spider-Monkeys (_Ateles paniscus_),
has, perhaps, the most gentle and impressionable disposition; but the
Parauacú, although a dull, cheerless animal, excels all in this quality of
capability of attachment to individuals of our own species, nor is it
wanting in intelligence."
{185}II. THE WHITE-HEADED SAKI. PITHECIA PITHECIA.
_Simia pithecia_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 40 (1766).
_Simia leucocephala_, Audeb. Singes., Fam, vi., Sect, i., p. 9, fig. 2
(1797).
_Pithecia adusta_, Illig., Abh. Berl. Ak., 1804-1811, p. 107; Kuhl,
Beitr. Zool., p. 44 (1820).
_Pithecia nocturna_, Illig., l. c.; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 217
(1876; part).
_Pithecia leucocephala_, Geoffr., Ann. du Mus., xix., p. 117 (1812);
Gray, Voy. Sulphur, Zool., p. 12, pl. 2; id., Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p.
59 (1870; part); Scl., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 228.
_Pithecia ochrocephala_, Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 44 (1820, = young).
_Pithecia rufibarbata_, Kuhl, t. c. p. 44 (1820).
_Pithecia capillamentosa_, Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras., p. 16, pl. 11
(1823).
_Pithecia rufiventer_, Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 55 (1851); Gray,
Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 60 (part, 1870); Wagner, Abhandl. Akad.
Münch., v., pt. 2, p 436 (1848: = [female]).
_Pithecia chrysocephala_, Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 55 (1851).
_Pithecia pogonias_, Gray, Voy. Sulphur, p. 13, pl. 2 (1844).
CHARACTERS.--MALE.--Hair black, very long over the body, and especially on
the tail. Head with short hair, white, washed with yellow and divided by a
central nude black streak; the white hair becoming yellow on the cheeks.
FEMALE.--Greyish-black, washed with pale yellow, the hairs being tipped
with the latter colour; moustache yellow; belly red.
YOUNG MALE.--Belly rufous brown.
{186}DISTRIBUTION.--Interior of Demerara, Kaicteur Falls; Rio Negro, and
Rio Branco in Amazonia; Cayenne; Surinam.