Chapter I: The Silky Tamarin. Midas Rosalia

_Simia rosalia_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 41, pl. i. (1766).

_Midas rosalia_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 121 (1812).

_Leontopithecus rosalia_, Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 65 (1870).

_Hapale rosalia_, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 250 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--This is the first species of the long-whiskered and maned group; fur soft and silky; tail equal in length to the body, bushy at the tip; hair round the face and on the back of the neck very long, forming a conspicuous ruff. Face, hands, and feet purple; general colour of the hair golden yellow, more or less red, and glossy.

These animals are said to possess an air-sac in the throat, at the back of the _trachea_ (or windpipe), as in _Ateles_. Length, 11 inches; tail, 12 inches.

{139}DISTRIBUTION.--The Silky Tamarin is found in the forests of South-eastern Brazil, in the coastal forests of New Granada, and as far north as the Isthmus of Panama.

HABITS.--The "Marakina," as this exceedingly beautiful species is often called, lives in small troops, ascending to the slender branches at the tops of the highest trees in the forest. The species is very playful and intelligent.

Closely related to the Silky Tamarin, if indeed it is really distinct from it, is the Maned Tamarin (_M. leoninus_, of Humboldt), which inhabits the same region, and is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the tail. "It is named _leoninus_," remarks Mr. Bates, "on account of the long brown mane which depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a diminutive Lion." In referring to their intelligence, the same writer continues, "Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus, that it distinguished between different objects depicted on an engraving. M. Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at these it became much terrified, whereas at the sight of a figure of a grasshopper or beetle it precipitated itself on the picture as if to seize the objects there represented."

Another species, the Golden-headed Tamarin (_M. chrysomelas_, of Kuhl), which is in general colour black, with the head, fore-arms, hands, and a line beneath the tail, golden-yellow, is, according to Dr. Gray, "very like a melanism of _Leontopithecus_ (= _Midas_) _rosalia_; but the hands and feet, which are sometimes blackish in that species, are yellow--that is to say, not changed."

II. GEOFFROY'S TAMARIN. MIDAS GEOFFROYI.

_Midas oedipus_, var. Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras., p. 30, pl. 23 (1823).

{140}_Hapale geoffroyi_, Pucher., Rev. Zool., 1845, p. 336; Schl., Mus.
Pays Bas, vii., p. 258 (1876).

_Midas geoffroyi_, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 63 (1851);
Sclater, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 478, pl. xxxviii.

_Midas ursulus_ (nec Geoffr.), Rep. Council Zool. Soc., 1858, p. 16.

_Oedipus geoffroyi_, Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 65 (1870).

(_Plate XIII._)

CHARACTERS.--Face black; a patch on the top of the head white; back of neck and shoulders, lower part of back, and upper side of base of tail rusty-brown; ears, back, outer side of arms and thighs, and outer side of upper part of leg, brownish-grey; throat, under surface of body, outer and inner surface of fore-arms and legs, white; remainder of tail black.

Hair on the crown of the head short, forming a narrow oblong patch; that on the nape of the neck elongated.

DISTRIBUTION.--At present only known from Panama.

HABITS.--Unknown.