Chapter IV: The Smooth-Headed Capuchin. Cebus Monachus

_Cebus monachus_, F. Cuv., Hist. Nat. Mammif., livr. xix. (1820).

_Le Saï a grosse tête_, male, F. Cuvier, _loc. cit._

_Cebus xanthocephalus_, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 6, pl. 3
(1823); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 50 (1870).

_Cebus cucullatus_, Spix, t. c. p. 9, pl. 6 (1823).

{210}_Cebus olivaceus_, Wagner in Schreb. Säugeth., Suppl., v., p, 87,
pl. 8 (1855).

_Cebus variegatus_, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 208 (1876).

(_Plate XIX._)

CHARACTERS.--Fur soft and stiff. Head large and round covered with short recumbent hairs. Face naked, pale round the prominent eyes; muzzle sharp, and of the same colour as that which surrounds the eyes; forehead, temples, throat, chest, under surface of body, sides of jaws, and front of arms, pale orange-yellow; outer side of arms, pale orange, washed with white; fore-arms, rump, hind-limbs, and tail black; a mixture of black and brown, expanding irregularly into spots on the yellow, covering the back, shoulders, and sides of body; a spot on the crown, black; a superciliary ridge forming a band of whiskers extending down the cheeks, and meeting under the chin, also black. Hands naked, violet, almost black.

Varieties occur with the shoulders and loins pale yellow, instead of mixed black and brown, and the outside of the thighs and the base of the tail, reddish. In some specimens the pale yellow of the back gives place to a white ground.

DISTRIBUTION.--Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Paraguay (?); Guiana.

HABITS.--Little is known of the habits of this species; but F. Cuvier, who had one under his care in the "Ménagerie Royale," in Paris, remarks that it had the confiding disposition characteristic of the Capuchins, although very timid. It exhibited a great desire to be caressed, was very affectionate and most intelligent. Its physiognomy, however, he says, was involuntarily repellent, being one that, among ourselves, would indicate a person steeped in ignorance and sensuality.

PLATE XIX.

{211}V. THE BROWN CAPUCHIN. CEBUS FATUELLUS.

_Simia trepida_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 39 (1766).

_Simia apella_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 42 (1766).

_Simia fatuellus_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 42 (1766).

_Cebus fatuellus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 109 (1812).

_Cebus apella_, Geoffr., t. c. p. 109 (1812); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit.
Mus., p. 48 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 199 (1876).

_Cebus macrocephalus_, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 3, pl. 1 (1823).

CHARACTERS.--Fur thick, harsh; hair of crown short, reflexed; on the sides of the crown a dark spot, elongated and elevated into two longer or shorter crests, according to the season and the age of the animal. General colour reddish-brown, darker on the hind-limbs, tail, and middle of the back; fore-arms, crown-spot, and whiskers, black; front of shoulders greyish or yellow; Face naked, purplish flesh-colour.

This species is subject to great individual variation. Its general colour is sometimes pale yellowish, with the whiskers yellow.

DISTRIBUTION.--Brazil; Guiana, near the coast; on the mountains of the Upper Magdalena Valley; Tolima, U.S. Colombia, from 5,000 to 7,000 ft.

HABITS.--This species, called "Mico Maizero" by the inhabitants of Tolima, lives as all the _Cebi_ do, in considerable troops in the forests. When wild, it is restless and destructive, but in captivity it is docile and affectionate.

VI. THE VARIEGATED CAPUCHIN. CEBUS VARIEGATUS.

_Cebus variegatus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 111 (1812).

{212}CHARACTERS.--Head round; muzzle protruding. Fur black, ringed with golden-yellow; under side of body rufous. Hairs of back brown at base, red higher up, black at the tips.

DISTRIBUTION.--Brazil.