Fernandes is the first author who has mentioned this animal. The
Cayopollin, says he, is a small animal, little bigger than a rat, very
much resembling the opossum in the snout, ears, and tail, and which
he makes use of as we do our hands; he has thin transparent ears; his
belly, legs, and feet, are white. The young, when frightened, seize
hold of the mother, who carries them up on the trees. This species is
found on the mountains of New Spain. Nieremberg has copied Fernandes
verbatim, without any addition of his own. Seba, who first caused
this animal to be engraved, gives no description of it; he only says,
that he has the head thicker, and the tail a little bigger than the
marmose, and that though he is of the same kind he belongs to another
climate, and even to another continent. He refers his readers to
Nieremberg and Johnston for a further description of this animal; but
it seems evident that neither of them had seen him, as they only follow
Fernandes. Neither of these three authors say that he is a native of
Africa, on the contrary, they assert, that he comes originally from
the mountains of the warm climates of America, and yet Seba, without
any authority, has pretended, that it is an African animal. That which
we have seen certainly came from America; he was larger, the snout
not so sharp, and the tail was longer than those of the marmose, and
he resembled the opossum more even than the marmose does. These three
animals are much alike in the conformation of their interior and
exterior parts, in their additional bones, form of their feet, in being
brought forth before their entire formation, their long and continued
adherence to the teats, and in their habits and dispositions. They are
all three natives of the new world, and of the same climate; they are
never found in the cold regions of America, nor can hardly live in
temperate climates. All of them are very ugly; their mouths extended
like that of a pike, their ears like those of a bat, their tails like
that of a snake, and their monkey's feet present a very odd form, which
is rendered still more disagreeable by their bad smell, and by the
slowness and stupidity which accompany their actions and manners.