One day, while
walking along a forest pathway, I saw one of these lively little
fellows miss his grasp as he was passing from one tree to another
along with his troop. He fell head foremost, from a height of at
least fifty feet, but managed cleverly to alight on his legs in
the pathway, quickly turning around, gave me a good stare for a
few moments, and then bounded off gaily to climb another tree. At
Tunantins, I shot a pair of a very handsome species of Marmoset,
the M. rufiventer, I believe, of zoologists. Its coat was very
glossy and smooth, the back deep brown, and the underside of the
body of rich black and reddish hues. A third species (found at
Tabatinga, 200 miles further west) is of a deep black colour,
with the exception of a patch of white hair around its mouth. The
little animal, at a short distance, looks as though it held a
ball of snow-white cotton in its teeth. The last I shall mention
is the Hapale pygmaeus, one of the most diminutive forms of the
monkey order, three full-grown specimens of which, measuring only
seven inches in length of body, I obtained near St.
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