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Alexander von Humboldt: „Memoir on a new Species of Monkey found in the eastern Declivity of the Andes“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1806-Memoir_on_a_new_Species_of_Monkey-1> [abgerufen am 28.03.2024].

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Titel Memoir on a new Species of Monkey found in the eastern Declivity of the Andes
Jahr 1806
Ort London
Nachweis
in: The Philosophical Magazine 24:96 (Februar–Mai 1806), S. 339–341, Tafel.
Entsprechungen in Buchwerken
als „Mémoire sur une nouvelle espèce de singe, trouvée sur la pente orientale des Andes“, in: Alexander von Humboldt, Recueil d’observations de zoologie et d’anatomie comparée, faites dans l’Océan Atlantique, dans l’intérieur du Nouveau Continent et dans la Mer du Sud pendant les années 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 et 1803, 2 Bände, Paris: F. Schoell / G. el Dufour 1811 [1812], J. Smith / Gide [1813–] 1833, Band 1, S. 14–16.
Sprache Englisch
Typografischer Befund Antiqua; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung, Kapitälchen; Fußnoten mit Asterisken; Schmuck: Initialen.
Identifikation
Textnummer Druckausgabe: II.43
Dateiname: 1806-Memoir_on_a_new_Species_of_Monkey-1
Statistiken
Seitenanzahl: 3
Zeichenanzahl: 6209

|339|

Memoir on a new Species of Monkey found in theeastern Declivity of the Andes. By M. de Humboldt *.

In the vast plains which extend from the eastern declivityof the Andes towards the shores of the Brazils, in the thickforests on the Amazons, Rio Negro (Black River), andOronoco, the cavia capybara, sus tajassu, and the monkeys,are the quadrupeds most common. The marmose and alou-ate prevail over all the others, whether for variety of speciesor number of individuals. Some of these monkeys, suchas the capuchin of Oronoco, very different from the simiacapucina Linn., the tiger-monkey or cusicusi, and the wi-dow, (three new species which I have discovered,) live inpairs, melancholy, mistrustful, flying (like man in a savagestate) their proper species. Others, especially the sagouinand howling monkey, are seen in troops, from 80 to 100,springing from branch to branch in search of nourishment.The saimiri of Buffon, that are the titi of Atures (simiasciurea), so esteemed on account of their gaiety, their mild-ness, and extreme littleness, assemble together when it be-gins to rain. A fall of temperature of three or four degreesof the centigrade thermometer disturbs them so much, thatthey mutually embrace each other and form balls or knots,of which each individual seeks to occupy the middle, inorder to find shelter. The Indian hunters, advertised by thecry of the titi, direct their arrows towards these flocks. Notwithstanding the great number of monkeys that na-turalists have described, it is probable that we are still ig-norant of the tenth part existing. In Africa, and evenin South America, there are vast plains of twenty thousand
* From Recueil d’Observations de Zoologie et d’ Anatomie comparé, 1re livraison.
|340| square leagues which have not yet been visited by any Eu-ropean. On the other hand, the monkeys the most com-mon are still so imperfectly represented even in the mostrecent works, executed with the greatest elegance, that thosewho have seen the living individuals would have difficulty torecognise them in the drawings published. Of this I mightcite as examples the simia sciurea, varieties of the simia ca-pucina, and even the simia paniscus, which is the gamecommonly eaten in the Upper Oronoco.
Among the great number of new sapajous, or marmoses,that I had the opportunity of describing in my voyage to thetropics, I have chosen a monkey of the plains of Mocoa,remarkable for its resemblance with the lion of Africa, ofwhich I made a drawing during my residence at Popayan.My sketch has been copied and improved by M. Turpin.(Plate VIII.) The leoncito * is very rare, even in its native country. Itinhabits the plains which border on the eastern declivity ofthe Cordelliers, the fertile banks of the Putumayo and Ca-queta: it never ascends even to the temperate regions, whilethe wandering bands of the simia beelzebul sometimes pushtheir excursions to heights equal to those of Canigou, andeven Mont Perdu. The leoncito of Mocoa, which I name simia leonina, differs essentially from all known species. Ithas not the white head of the s. leucocephala figured in thework of Audebert. It differs from the s. rosalia, and thesaki or fox-tailed monkey (s. pithecia), by a white spotwhich covers the top of the nose, the mouth, and the chin;and from the s. iacchus of Brazil, by a tail without whiterings, by its black visage, and by the disparity of conforma-tion that exists between the claws of its fore-feet and thenails on its hinder ones; the former almost resembling theclaws of a cat, and the latter having nails like the humantoes. The leoncito is but seven or eight inches long,without counting the tail, which is of the length of thebody. It is one of the least and most elegant monkeys thatwe have seen. It is gay and sportive, but, like most little
* Leoncito, from leon (lion) a diminutive of endearment more common evenwith the Spaniards than the Italians.—Translator.
|341| animals, very irascible. When it is vexed it bristles up thehair on its neck, that increases its resemblance to the Africanlion. I have seen but two individuals of this very rare mon-key: they were the first that had been brought living to thewest of the Cordellier. They were kept in a cage; and theirmovements were so rapid and so continual, that I had muchdifficulty to design them. Their hissing imitates the songof little birds, and I suppose that the conformation of theirlarynx (having a particular sac) is analogous to that whichI have described in the simia œdipus. I have been assured,that in the cottages of the Indians of Mocoa the leoncitobreeds in the domestic state. By the way of Grand-Paraand the river of Amazons they might be brought into Eu-rope. If a government, interested in the progress of de-scriptive natural history, would undertake an expedition inwhich that interest would not be rendered subservient togeographical discoveries; if that government sent canoes orsmall boats to ascend the Oronoco, and to penetrate by theCasiquiaré and Rio Negro to the river of Amazons; inshort, if, after having explored the mouths of the Caquetaand Putumayo, it would make these same boats descend toGrand-Para, it would in a little time unite collections themost precious to the study of zoology and botany. Such anexpedition would be of little expense, and its success certain.

SIMIA leonina. Ex olivaceo fuscescens, facie atra, ore albo, dorso striisalbo-flavescentibus notato.

Caput parvum, depressum, nigrescens. Facies anthropo-morpha, atra; macula albo-cærulescens circa os et nares.Auriculæ subtriangulares distantes, margine superiori de-flexo, magnæ, aterrimæ, pilosæ. Corpus ex badio oliva-ceum, pilis nigro-annulatis, in collo longioribus. Dorsummaculis et striis albo-flavescentibus variegatum. Cauda nonprehensilis, longitudine corporis, superne atra, inferne badia,apice incurva et incrassata. Manus et pedes aterrimi, in-ferne nudi, pollice in manibus anterioribus et posteriorbusdistante. Ungues acuti, incurvi, atri; pollicis ungue in ma-nibus anterioribus oblongo, acuto, in manibus posterioribus(pedibus) obtuso, anthropomorpho.

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