Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/193

I MARMORA Memoires (4 vols., 1804). A complete edition of Iris works was published in 18 vols. (1808), and a select edition in 10 vols. (1824). His son, Louis JOSEPH, born in Paris in 1789, published two poems of his father, Polymnie and the Neuvaine de Cy there, and wrote several poems. He went to Mexico, and subsequently to the United States, leading a vagrant life, and died in a hospital in New York in 1830. MARMORA, Sea of (anc. Propontis), a body of water lying between European and Asiatic Turkey; length 172 m., greatest breadth about 50 m. Its 1ST. E. extremity is connected with the Black sea by the Bosporus, and its S. W. extremity with the Archipelago by the Darda- nelles. It is remarkable for its depth, which in some places is more than 350 fathoms. It has numerous excellent harbors on its K shore, contains several islands, the principal of which is Marmora, and receives the waters of many but inconsiderable tributary streams. It has no tides, but currents of variable strength and velocity run through it. (See BLACK SEA, vol. ii., p. 683.) Its shores present a picturesque aspect, and are especially bold and precipitous on the Asiatic side. The ISLAND OF MARMORA (anc. Proconnesus ; Turk. Marmar Adassy), which gives name to the sea, is about 12 m. long and 6 m. wide, and for the most part mountainous and barren. It has been cele- brated from a remote age for its marble (whence its name, from Lat. marmor), with which in ancient times it supplied Cyzicus and other Hellenic cities, as in modern times it has supplied Constantinople. The capital, Marmora, stands on the S. W. coast, and is chiefly built of wood. The highest summit of the island is in lat. 40 36' N., Ion. 27 35' E. MARMOSET, the common name of the South American monkeys of the family hapalidce, in- cluding the genera hapale (Illiger) and midas (Geoffroy). The number of teeth is the same as in the old-world apes and in man, viz. : incisors , canines ^Cy, and molars fl|, with acute tubercles. They are all of a size, re- sembling squirrels in form and agility; the rounded head is frequently furnished with ear- like tufts of silky hair on the sides ; the feet are five-toed, the posterior having an opposable thumb with a flat nail, all the other fingers of both extremities having sharp claws, with the anterior thumb scarcely opposable ; the tail is long and bushy, but not prehensile, and the body is covered with soft woolly fur. In hapale the muzzle is short ; the facial angle 50 ; the upper lateral incisors insulated, the lower the longest, narrow, and convex outward; lower canines smallest. The striated marmoset or ouistiti (H. jacchus, 111.) is about 8 in. long, and the tail about a foot ; the general color is a deep gray, with the lower back and tail banded with brown, head chestnut, spot on forehead and long hairs on cheeks and behind the ears white. It is a handsome and cleanly animal, walking on all-fours, and like the rest of its family lives in the woods of Brazil, running MARMOSET 181 about in the trees in pursuit of insects, fruits, small birds, and eggs ; it is easily tamed, and makes an interesting and affectionate pet ; in captivity it will eat almost any vegetable or an- imal food ; it is not so intelligent as the other > Striated Marmoset (Hapale jacchus). monkeys ; it breeds occasionally in confinement. In midas the lower incisors are short and broad, and the forehead more prominent ; the species are commonly called tamarins, and in- clude some of the smallest and prettiest mon- keys. The silky marmoset, or marikiva (M. rosalia, Geoffr.), is of a golden yellow color, sometimes with a reddish tinge, the fur be- ing very soft and silky and forming a kind of mane upon the neck ; its disposition is gentle, but its constitution is so delicate that it soon dies from the exposure of even temperate cli- Silky Marmoset (Midas rosalia). mates. The leonine marmoset, or leoncito (M. leoninus, Geoffr.), is the smallest monkey known ; the color is brownish with black face and brown mane, which it erects when angry, whence its name.