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

by Henry O. Forbes

Midas elegantulus, Slack, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad., 1861, p. 463.

Hapale labiata (nec Geoffr.), Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 260 (part).

Characters.—Head, throat, fore-limbs, tail, and hands deep glossy black; hairs of back, sides, and posterior limbs black, broadly tipped with white, not regularly ringed; belly, breast and inner surface of limbs bright brick-red, separated by a distinct line from the black of the back and outer surface of the limbs. On the back of the head a small patch of the same colour as the back; on the top of the head a golden-yellow triangular patch. Lips and tip of the nose, white.

This species is distinguished from the White-lipped Tamarin (M. labiatus) by the spot on the crown and nape; and by the rufous of the under side extending forward nearer to the throat.

Distribution.—Banks of the Upper Amazon. Mr. Bates shot a specimen at Tunantins in 69° W. long., and 4° S. lat.

Habits.—Nothing is known of the habits of this species.

Closely allied to the Red-bellied Tamarin is the so-called Moustached Tamarin (Midas mystax, Spix), in which the head, shoulders, and tail are black; the body above brown, sometimes ringed with white, and the belly bright rust-coloured. It can be distinguished, as Dr. Slack points out, from M. rufiventer, by the want of the ashy tips to the hairs of the back and posterior limbs, and the triangular golden spot on the vertex. The hairs of this spot are golden throughout their entire length, in this respect resembling another closely related Upper Amazonian species, the so-called Bonneted Tamarin (M. pileatus, Is. Geoffr.), from which it can readily be distinguished by the black colour of the under surface. The back of the Bonneted Tamarin is also varied, black and grey, the limbs and tail are blackish, and the lips white.

VI. DEVILLE'S TAMARIN. MIDAS WEDDELLI.

Midas weddellii, Deville, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1849, p. 55.

Midas devillii, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 64 (1851); Castelnau, Expéd. Amér. Sud, Mamm., pl. vi., fig. 2 (1855); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 67 (1870).