McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur
Varecia variegata
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
Peter Paillou was born in London into a Huguenot family and was recognised in his own time as an eminent ‘bird painter’. In 1744 he began to paint for Taylor White and worked for him for almost thirty years, painting chiefly birds and mammals. He painted as well for Robert More, Joseph Banks, and for the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. Many of his paintings of birds were used as the basis for book illustrations, often engraved by his colleague and fellow Huguenot, Peter Mazell. Paillou was elected to the Society of Artists and in 1763 he exhibited ‘A Piece of Birds, in Watercolours; the Hen of the Wood and Cock of the Red Game’. In 1778, to considerable approval, he also showed a picture of ‘A Horned Owl from Peru’, completely made from feathers.
Drawing of a Black-and-White Ruffed Lemure from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Madagascar.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Varecia variegata
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Circopethecus [Cercopithecus]
Albo Nigroque variegatus
Cercopethecus [Cercopithecus] cunocephalus [cynocephalus] corpore albo facie pedibus
caudaq[ue] nigris. maculis nigris in humeris
& genibus notatus. auribus comosis
albis nasone elongata.
magnitudo Mocauci.
The Black & White Monkey
Mammalia Glires Sciurus
4 Flavus LSN p. 86 e.n.
Sciurus auriculis subrotundis,
pedibus pentadactylis
corpore luteo.
Sciurus Cauda tereti, pilis brevibus
auriculis subrotundis Amoen Acad 1 p. 281
Habitat in America Carthagenae.
The Yellow Squirrell from
Carthagena
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Circopethecus [Cercopithecus]
Variegated white and black
Cercopithecus cynocephalus [Dog-headed...] with a white body, black face, feet
and tail; marked with black patches on the shoulders
and the cheeks; with long-haired ears,
and an elongated white nose.
It is the size of the Mocauci.
The Black & White Monkey
Mammalia Glires Sciurus
4 Flavus [The yellow...] LSN p. 86 e.n.
Sciurus [Squirrel] with somewhat rounded ears,
five-toed feet,
and a yellow body.
Sciurus [Squirrel] with a smooth tail, short hair,
and somewhat rounded ears. Amoen Acad 1 p. 281
It lives in American Carthage.
The Yellow Squirrel from
Carthagena