One thing strikes the observer at once, and that is the very affected way in which the Monkey sits, with its eyelids half closed; and as the upper ones are dead-white, they look almost like doll’s eyelids, and as if they did not belong to it.
FOOT AND HAND OF THE MANGABEY.
They are extremely restless, and are fond of placing themselves in curious attitudes, and so full of antics are they that it has been erroneously imagined that they really have more joints and muscles than the most agile of their allies. They are fond of carrying their tails reversed, so as to be on a line parallel with the top of the back, and their common expression of disgust is to show their teeth by raising the upper lip. It is always droll, frolicsome, and good-natured. Sir William Jardine mentions a female in Mr. Wombwell’s Menagerie that was most lively, and Broderip says:—“She performed many of the attitudes of the most experienced harlequins, and was remarkably cleanly and careful not to soil her person. When feeding, she seldom put her head to the food or dish, but lifted and conveyed it to her mouth. She was very fond of bread, milk, and vegetables, and of carrots especially.” He gives a figure of her—no easy task, for she was never at rest for one moment, and her celerity was increased when she perceived she was noticed.
The Mangabeys are all African, and are peculiarised by having a fifth cusp, or point, to the last crushing tooth on each side of the lower jaw, as in Semnopithecus. Now, they have no other resemblance to Semnopithecus, and all their structural peculiarities are those of the Guenons. They have, however, the web between the fingers carried as far forward as the first joint, and the hair comes close to the knuckles and the beginning of the short thumb. In the foot the toe-thumb is large, and, as usual, widely separate from the toes, the second and third of which are united by a web, which reaches almost to the last joint near the tips, and the third, fourth, and fifth are united by smaller webs, Evidently the peculiar crushing teeth of the Mangabey are a relic of an ancestral character, and we must look in some lower tribes for a corresponding arrangement, and in this we are assisted by the nature of the face, for the muzzle is rather projecting. In fact, they somewhat, resemble the Macaques, or Inui, which will be considered next.
It is extremely interesting to find in Africa, and in the same parts of it, Monkeys living in the same forests, on the same kind of food, and exposed to the same climate and dangers, differing so wonderfully in their colour and disposition. The difference has been caused by something more than adaptation to ends. Again, it is curious to note the different arrangements of the dental structure in the group amongst animals eating the same food and stowing it away in pouches.[48]
CHAPTER VII.
THE DOG-SHAPED MONKEYS (continued). THE MACAQUES.[49]
Their Description and Anatomy, and its reference to that of the Semnopitheci and Guenons—[THE COMMON MACAQUE]—Its Character—Appropriateness of the Name—Occasionally an Albino—[THE ROUND-FACED MACAQUE]—Found in China—Ideas of the Chinese about them—[THE TOQUE, OR BONNET MONKEY]—[THE BHUNDER]—Described by Cuvier—Their Thieving Propensities—Hindoo Tales of their Sagacity—[THE MOOR MONKEY]—[BELANGER’S MONKEY]—[THE PIG-TAILED MACAQUE]—[THE MAGOT]—One of the Commonest Monkeys—Described by Galen—Early Notices of—Predatory Habits—Abundant at Gibraltar—Probably came over from Africa—Similarity to the Baboons—[THE WANDEROO]—Account of one in the Zoological Society’s Collection—Geographical Range of the Macaques
THE next group of Monkeys differs much from the lively dwellers amongst the woods and trees, which have been described, and the kinds contained in it are evidently suited for running quickly on all-fours, and more on the ground than amongst the branches. They are not so much like the Dog in shape as are the Baboons, which will be described next, but still they are, as it were, between these and the Guenons in their habits and construction. They have longer muzzles than the Guenons, but not so long as the Baboons, and the nostrils open high up and obliquely. Their eyes are overshadowed by a prominent brow-ridge, which gives an air of cunning not seen in the playful Guenons, and also a look of fierceness and of mistrust; and, in fact, the old ones look anything but amiable. Their limbs are stout and compactly made, and they display great strength and width in the shoulders. The hind limbs are, however, longer than the front ones, and the hands and feet are well made, the latter being long and having a large heel. But what strikes the observer, when he sees drawings or stuffed specimens of the whole group before him, is the difference in the length of the tail in different species. Some have long tails, others have very small ones, and one in particular has not one at all. Those with tails used to be placed in one genus, and those without them in another; and the first were called Macaques (Macacus), the others being Inui[50] (Inuus). But the close agreement of the other parts of the body, notwithstanding the length or absence of the tail, coupled with the fact that it is not used in climbing or in balancing, determined naturalists to rely but little upon that member in this group, and to join those with tails and without tails in one genus, called Macacus.
Those with long tails, the Macacus cynomolgus, for instance, cause the group to resemble the Guenons; or, in other words, link and ally the two genera, it being difficult in the case of this Monkey to say to which one it should belong. On the other hand, the Barbary Ape, which managed to get to Gibraltar and live there in some numbers, and which has but the very stump of a tail, connects the whole group, or genus, with the Baboons without tails. Then there is one with a fine head of hair, and a long snout (Macacus Silenus), which lives in Malabar, and which has a longish tufted tail; and it links some Baboons with long tails to the group now being described.