[a. F. tamarin (La Condamine, 1745), a. native name in the Galibi or Carib dial. of Cayenne.] A name for several species of the genus Midas of South American marmosets or squirrel-monkeys.
[1745. La Condamine, Relat. Voy. Amér. Mérid., 165. On les nomme Pinches à Maynas, et à Cayenne. Tamarins.]
1780. Smellie, trans. Buffon’s Nat. Hist. (1791), VIII. 203, note. In Cayenne, there are very small monkeys called tamarins, which are extremely beautiful. They exceed not the size of a squirrel.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 500/1. The tamarin, Sagoinus Midas, or great-eared monkey.
1854. H. G. Dalton, Brit. Guiana (1855), II. 452. The Marakina or Silky Tamarin.
1881, 1896. Negro tamarin [see NEGRO 7].
1882. Red-handed tamarin [see RED-HANDED a. 2].
1899. Daily News, 21 Nov., 5/1. The exceedingly rare monkey from South America, known as the red-bellied tamarin.
