Chapter IV: The Brown Howler. Alouatta Ursina

_Stentor ursina_, Humb. and Bonpl., Obs. Zool., i., pl. 30 (fig. nec
descr.; 1811).

_Stentor flavicauda_, Id. t. c. p. 355 (1811).

_Stentor ursinus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 108 (1812).

_Stentor fuscus_, Geoffr., t. c. p. 108 (1812).

_Mycetes fuscus_, Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 29 (1820); Spix, Sim. et
Vespert., Bras., p. 43, pl. 30 (1823).

_Mycetes bicolor_, Gray, Ann. N. H., xvi., p. 214 (1845); id. Cat.
Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 40 (1870).

_Mycetes ursinus_, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 55 (part., 1851);
Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 39 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii.,
p. 155 (1876).

_Aluatta ursina_, Slack, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1862, p. 517.

_Mycetes flavicauda_, Schl., t. c. p. 147 (part., 1876).

CHARACTERS.--General colour shining yellowish-red, or dark brownish-yellow; hairs rather rigid, black with yellowish tips; hairs of the shoulder ringed with black. When half-grown the limbs and tail are very dark brown, nearly black; tail shorter than the body, olive black, with two yellow lateral stripes. Length of the body, 23 inches; of the tail, 22 inches.

{199}YOUNG.--Black, with the tips of the hairs of the body yellowish-brown; base of the tail and the surrounding region reddish-brown.

This species is remarkable for great variation in colour. The young at first sight, as Dr. Slack has pointed out, appear to be of an intense black colour, but upon a closer examination, the hairs, more especially those of the back and sides of the head, are found to be tipped with reddish-brown. As the animal becomes older the black gradually vanishes, a yellowish-brown colour appearing in its place, until in the adult the only remains of the black are to be found in a few annulations in the hairs of the shoulders.

The skins are an article of commerce, for saddle cloths and saddle coverings.

DISTRIBUTION.--The Rio Negro and Upper Amazonia. Mr. Bates remarks that this is the only species seen in this region.