The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-11-27
REMARKABLE HOWLERS.
A SPECIES OF MONKEY WHICH
PROTECTS ITSELF WITH NOISE.
An Animal OF Remarkable Vocal Powers
Ear-spiitting Groans That Can
BE Heard for Miles.

San Francisco Chronicle. there Is GU
rious collection OF defensive armor-some
thirty different specimens Of arrow-prool
contrivances from the hide-covered shield
OF Gothic warrior TO a chain cuirass
and elaborate breastplate Of Milanese
steel. That variety. however. is trifing
compared with the infinite number Of diff
ferent devices by which Nature has con-
trived to protect the beasts of the wilder
ness. OF hide covers alone there are
scores OF notifications; dozens Of weak
mammals owe their safety TO their talent
for playing possum," hundreds OF IN
sects TO their offensive odor, three or
four species Of mollusks to the faculty
for secreting an ink like fluid thal
darkens the water and thus makes them
temporarily invisible.
But the strangest OF all protective en-
dowments Is certainly that of a South
American monkey that routs its enemies
by the appalling power OF its voice. Like
most american varieties Of our OAR
winian cousins, the mycetes stentor Is
a poor fighter It's claws are blunt, ana
its teeth are no match for the fangs or
the jaguar but the horrible upr0ar oil
its alarm cries protects it's assem- es
against the raids Of the harry eagle by
day and the approach Of the proving
giant cats by night. A moderate degree
Of noisiness might prove fatal habit
by betTaying the whereabouts Of the
chatterer without troubling the con-
sciences Of the pursuers; but no
beast Of prey likes 20 have its move
ments heraded by whoops that wake
the echoes for a distance OF TWO niles
and after the voice of the mycetes was
/ ft1h hot
answer that purpose, II is easy to see
how the gift could be perpetuated and
improved on the principle Of natural Sc
lection-the most obstreperous individuals
nourished and survived their less NOISY
| relatives.
The first explorers Of the Orinoco vii
derneSs were not men TO be scared by
trines They had heard the battle shout
| Of the MoOrs on the plains OF Tunis, ana
| the warwhOop Of the Caribs in the noun
| tains Of Costa Rica. but when they at
tempted to explore the forest of Atabapo
! In Southern VenZUela. they broke up
their first night camp and retreated in the
| full conviction of having heard the shrieks
| of los demonos-the voice Of Satan and
| legion of his most able-bodied assistants.
! About an hour after sunset the mycetes
serenades begin with sounds closely re-
| sembling the shudderinG grOans that ter
inmate the solo Of n braying mule. A
pause follows. and the braying howls re-
| commence mingled with screams that be-
come louder and louder till the camping
traveller sits upon his poncho and clutches
] his ears in despair Shriller yells pierce
| the general uproar-perhaps the voices OF
| Young vocalists enjoying the triumph OF
| a successful debut The hollow groans
| too, become more unearthly and more
| many-voiced, and after two-hours' con-
cert that has banished sleep for many
miles around, the performance ends with
! few defiant whoops, gradually sinking INTO
a sort Of coughing bark, but becomes
! lover till ii dies away with the moan u
the night wind
The proving cats too, have probably
been banished by this time TO n safe dis
/ lance and the serenaders indulge IN
! nap, apt. however. to be broken at any
moment by the slightest alarm. A stealthy
! step in the underbrush, the mere rustic OF
a moving branch scares the sharp-eared
sentries a warning shrek and pande-
! monium reigns supreme for another hour.
"The deep groans are bad encCgh," says
the traveller Burmeister, but not as pro-
vokng as the intermittent yells, which,
indeed take rank above all the irritating
sounds can imagine or describe. They
| pierce the ear like brass steam whistle,
and their far-sounding power is aggra-
waited by an energy Of intOnation that re
minds one of the scream Of petulent
child trying to make iself as disagreeable
as possible"
A shot blazed away inro the thick Of
the Internal assembly only makes mat
ters worse. The serenadeTs will scatter,
but rally again around a veteran stentor
and make w for lost time by screeching
like maniacs for the rest Of the night
But the uDrOar reaches Is maximum
when two wandering troops meet and in
! dulge in a roaring match. The stoicisn
of the very brutes gives way on such
occasions and tapirs, jaguars and spider
monkeys can be heard gruntng out their
eXecrations against the disturbers OF
the midnight peace.
The vocal apparatus OF the mycetes
comprises three different air sacks, re-
sembIing the Dubious engagements Of GER
tain reeds, and increasing the power Of
its whOOps on the same principle that the
sound of the human VOce would be in
tensified by roaring into a hollow she'll
Stentor, the Grecian hero, was said TO
be gifted with a voice equal TO that OF
fifty ordinary men, and audible from one
end of the battlefield TO the other. But
the battles OF the ancients were fought
at close range, and it may be doubted
if the lOudest human voice of modern
time would carry view-halloO to d dis
lance of more than 5000 feet, or about
a mile and quarter But the yels OF
the mycetes can be heard nearly twice
that far "When the bowler concerts
were protracted till after sunrise" says
the naturalist, Salvini II have some
times tried to ascertain how far the noise
may be heard. IT has taken me an hour
or more TO tread the forest underground
from the time the cry first struck my ear
till guarded by its repetition, / stood
under the tree where the animals were
perched. 1t would certainly not be over
estimating the distance 10 say two miles.
When the sound comes across lagoon,
unhindered by trees, a Spanish league
about three miles, would be more like
the distance at which the best yels could
be hoo - "
menagere owner who should under
take to introduce virtuosos Of that species
would probably be mobbed on the day OF
his arrival in a North American town.
Nevertheless, old males Of the very noisi-
est variety are occasionally found In the
wigwams of the Orinoco Indians. Savages
in all parts OF the world are strangely
Indifferent to noises; boys in the semi
barbarous period of their teens prefer the
explosion of big fre-cracker TO Beet
hoven's grandest symphony. and the negro
chieftains OF Senegambia keep parrots
for the pleasure OF hearing them scream
Gust as the ancients admired the knife
grinder screech Of the cicada), but the
roars Of a full-grown mycetes would be
too much even for the nerves of a South