1. HAND-BONES OF MARMOSET.
2. FOOT-BONES OF MARMOSET.
First, then, the skull is remarkable for the relative size of the brain-case, and the back part projects far behind. The outside of the skull is smooth and rounded, and the brow-ridges are very slight, the orbits being large. Inside, and accommodating itself to this long head, is a very long brain, whose back part projects past the cerebellum. But this is not all the unusual part of it, for instead of there being convolutions, or packings-in of the surface of the brain, it is almost smooth, the great fissures being alone marked. Here, then, is the lowest form of brain yet noticed in the Quadrumana, and it approaches to the form seen in the lower animals. What the great back part of the brain-case means is hardly yet known, but if it refers to the affections it will render the story told by Broderip all the more valuable. He says that a lady kept two of these Marmosets, and that she was impressed with their great affection for each other. “They had no family, but they were very happy, and were all in all to each other. One of them unfortunately died. The other seemed to be unwilling to believe the change that had taken place, and continued to caress the body, until it became absolutely necessary to remove it. Everything was done to console the widow that its fond and distressed mistress could think of, but as soon as its mate was taken away the poor widowed creature pressed its little hands to its eyes, refused to be comforted, and remained pining in that attitude till death relieved it of its sufferings.”
The teeth and claws indicate a carnivorous or insectivorous diet in these Monkeys, and the brain does not deny it, and many anecdotes may be told of their love of something alive. Every one may see the Marmosets at the Zoological Gardens making usually very successful dashes at flies with their fingers, and enjoying their tiny prey; and there is little doubt that the following story is true:—One of them, which was kept by the “Sage Femme” of the Royal Family about a hundred years since, took a great fancy to fish, and made a dash at a Goldfish he saw swimming round and round in its globe. He caught it, and ate it, so the lady observing his fondness for something lively gave him an Eel, and as the little Monkey was not more than eight or nine inches in length without his tail, this lively gift frightened him at first by twisting round his body and neck; but he soon killed it, and enjoyed the treat.
THE COMMON MARMOSET.[109]
These little, gentle, pretty creatures, usually so readily tamed, are made great pets of, and attract much attention in all collections of animals, and one kind has been often brought from the tropical woods of the Brazils and kept in England, so that its habits during captivity have been watched from birth until death in adult age. Many years since F. Cuvier had some of the common Marmosets born whilst under his care, and he watched them and their parents well. The young ones had their eyes open on coming into the world, and their skins were covered with very smooth hair of a deep grey colour, but which was scarcely perceptible on the tail. They instantly crept into their mother’s nice warm fur, and clung on with their little hands and feet, and they attracted the intense admiration and curiosity of the father and mother, who were in the same cage. There were three little ones, and the mother indeed did not know what to do with them. Broderip suggests that what followed was because the lady Ouistiti had no experienced female friend to direct her in her first confinement. At any rate, the mother seized the first by the head, and proceeded to bite this important part of the body off, and, luckily for the other two, whilst she was thus finishing off her offspring, they managed to get to her breasts, and to begin to suck. From that moment she bestowed upon them the natural attention of a parent, and became all affection. The father was even more affectionate than the mother, and assisted most assiduously in the nursing department. The favourite position of the young ones was upon the back and bosom of the mother, and when she was tired of nursing she would come up to her mate with a shrill cry, which Broderip writes said as plainly as any one could speak, “Here, do take the children!” He immediately stretched forth his hands, and placed the little ones on his back, or under his body, where they held on whilst he carried them about, and amused them. At last they used to get hungry, and whined for their mother, who took them, and after having nursed them returned them to their “papa.” In fact, the father did all the hard work, and the mother merely fed them. In this instance this domestic happiness was cut short, for the mother was weakly, no wet-nurse was to be had, and the little ones sank and died. In their native state they lead an arboreal life, and assemble in groups of six or seven, climbing up the tallest trees, and jumping from bough to bough, showing the greatest activity, like and greater than that of Squirrels. So rapidly do they move from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, that the eye fails to follow them readily. They are recognised at once by their long tuft of whitish hair, which sticks out from the side of the head, and almost hides the ears. The size of the whole animal is about that of a small Squirrel, and the tail is very long, bushy, and prettily marked with alternate rings of ash-colour and of black fur. The head is small, the eyes are gentle-looking, and the nose is flat, the face being black. The fur of the body is darkish brown, with different shades of colour for each hair, which is dusky at its root, reddish in the middle, and grey at the tip. There are very different stories told regarding their intelligence and affection. Some naturalists assert that they are incapable of affection towards man, even to the hand that feeds them. Swainson says “it mistrusts all, and treats as indifferently those whom one would think it well knew and those who are strangers; neither does it show much intelligence, although it is attentive, and suspicious of everything that is passing. When under the influence of fear it strives to conceal itself, uttering a short but piercing cry; at other times it hisses.” The name Ouistiti has been given to this Monkey, and the Portuguese of the Amazon districts called it the Sanglain, whilst Europeans term it a Marmoset.
THE CLOAKED MARMOSET.[110]
The word “humerale” is to be translated a part of the harness on the shoulders, or a graduate’s cloak, according to an old Latin dictionary, and thus far a fit name has been given to a little Monkey thus noticed by Mr. Bates in his work on the Amazons:—