A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)

by Henry O. Forbes

Distribution.—Brazil.

VII. THE TUFTED CAPUCHIN. CEBUS CIRRIFER.

Le Sajou negre, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Mamm. Suppl., p. 109, pl. 28.

Cebus cirrifer, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 110 (1812); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 49 (1870).

Cebus cucullatus, Spix, Sim. et Vespert., Bras., p. 9, pl. 6 (1823, juv.).

Macaco prego, Bates, Nat. Amazon., i., p. 323 (1863).

Cebus niger, Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 202 (1876).

Characters.—Head round; hairs of crown short and reversed, sometimes elongated into two retrorsal tufts. Fur short, close, and in general colour maroon, turning to black, darker on the under surface; face, chin, sides of forehead and a streak above the eyebrows, yellowish-white.

Distribution.—Lower Amazon region.

Habits.—Little is known of this Monkey beyond what Mr. Bates has told us, viz., that it is a great depredator of the fruit trees. "It is a most impudent thief; it destroys more than it eats by its random, hasty way of plucking and breaking the fruits, and when about to return to the forest, carries away all it can in its hands or under its arms."