I obtained specimens of
what have been considered two species, one (L. olivaceus of
Spix?) having the head clothed with grey, the other (L.
Humboldtii) with black fur. They both live together in the same
places, and are probably only differently-coloured individuals of
one and the same species. I sent home a very large male of one of
these kinds, which measured twenty-seven inches in length of
trunk, the tail being twenty-six inches long; it was the largest
monkey I saw in America, with the exception of a black Howler,
whose body was twenty-eight inches in height. The skin of the
face in the Barrigudo is black and wrinkled, the forehead is low,
with the eyebrows projecting, and, in short, the features
altogether resemble in a striking manner those of an old negro.
In the forests, the Barrigudo is not a very active animal; it
lives exclusively on fruits, and is much persecuted by the
Indians, on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. From
information given me by a collector of birds and mammals, whom I
employed, and who resided a long time among the Tucuna Indians
near Tabatinga, I calculated that one horde of this tribe, 200 in
number, destroyed 1200 of these monkeys annually for food.
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