of distrust, observant of every
movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it
generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and
familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house
after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts' content. It
acted somewhat differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like
them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up,
trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them.

It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana, but it is also
fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which
it will snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of
countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is
partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as one of sixty
degrees; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they have of
inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute
very much to give them a knowing expression. Anatomists who have
dissected species of Midas tell us that the brain is of a very low type
as far as the absence of convolutions goes, the surface being as smooth
as that of a squirrel's. I should conclude at once that this character
is an unsafe guide in judging of the mental qualities of these animals;
in mobility of expression of countenance, intelligence, and general
manners these small monkeys resemble the higher apes far more than they
do any rodent animal with which I am acquainted.

On the upper Amazon I once saw a tame individual of the _Midas
leoninus_, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still more
playful and intelligent than the one just described. This rare and
beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the
tail. It is named leoninus on account of the long brown mane which
depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a
diminutive lion. In the house where it was kept it was familiar with
every one; its greatest pleasure seemed to be to climb about the bodies
of different persons who entered. The first time I went in, it ran
across the room straightway to the chair on which I sat down and climbed
up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned round and looked into my
face, showing its little teeth, and chattering, as though it would say,
"Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection towards its master
than towards stranger