II. THE BLACK HOWLER. ALOUATTA NIGRA.
Stentor caraya, Humb. and Bonpl., Obs. Zool., i., p. 355 (1811 ex Azara).
Mycetes barbatus, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 46, pls. 32, 33 (1811).
Stentor niger (male), S. stramineus (female), Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 108 (1812; nec Spix).
Mycetes caraya, Less., Sp. Mamm. Bimanes et Quadrum., p. 122 (1840); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 41 (part).
Aluatta nigra, Slack, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1862, p. 518.
Mycetes niger, Thomas, P. Z. S., 1880, p. 394; Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 149 (1876).
Characters.—Male.—Hair rather long and entirely of a deep black; hair on the back of the head directed forward, meeting at right angles that of the forehead, which is directed backward, forming a well-marked semi-circular ridge. Length, 20 inches; tail, 17 inches.
Female and Young.—Pale straw-colour washed with black; the tips of the frontal ridge of hair black; at birth the young are entirely straw-colour.
Dr. Slack observes that, in the young, about the period of the second dentition, the hairs upon the mid-line of the back become black at their bases; soon after, the change takes place upon other parts of the body, the black gradually taking the place of the straw-colour, until the entire body in the adult male is of an intense black colour—the adult female having the coloration of the half-grown male.