Habits.—This species is extremely delicate, and will not bear the least cold. "I have had them alive," writes Mr. Edward Bartlett, "for two or three weeks; but they appear to suffer from cold and die. They are kept, however, by the Indian women, who make pets of them and put them into the long hair on their heads. With this protection they are able to live for a long time. Having become tame, they frequently hop out and feed, or, having captured a spider or two, scamper back again, and hide under the luxuriant crop of their owners, who are generally unwilling to part with them."
With the succeeding species commences the group of Tamarins with no mane and without white lips.
XII. THE PIED TAMARIN. MIDAS BICOLOR.
Midas bicolor, Spix, Sim. et Vespert. Bras, p. 31, pl. 24, fig. 1 (1823).
Hapale bicolor, Wagner in Schreb., Säugeth., v., p. 135, pl. 12 (1855); Schl., Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 257 (1876).
Seniocebus bicolor, Gray, Cat. Monkeys, Brit. Mus., p. 68 (1870).
Characters.—Head naked in front of the ears in the adult; hind-part of the head covered with long white hairs; ears exposed, naked; tail not ringed, the upper side black; nose and lips black; neck, chest and arms white; face, body, and hind-limbs brown; under side of tail, inner side of limbs, and the abdomen ferruginous.
In the young animal, the face is rather hairy and the forehead naked. (Gray.)
Distribution.—The eastern bank of the Rio Negro, a northern tributary of the Amazon. Mr. Bates obtained a specimen at Barra, where it was rather common in the forest; and, he adds: "This place, a waterfall near Barra, which its citizens consider as the chief natural curiosity of their neighbourhood, is classic ground to the naturalist, from having been a favourite spot with the celebrated travellers Spix and Martius, during their stay at Barra in 1820. Von Martius was so much impressed by its magical beauty, that he commemorated the visit by making a sketch of the scenery, to serve as background in one of the plates of his great work on the Palms."