ERYTHROCEBUS 



GENUS IX. ERYTHROCEBUS. 



1- 2— 2> *-'• 1— 1> "• 2— 2> '^- 3— 3~32- 



ERYTHROCEBUS Trouess., Cat. Mamm., Viv. et Foss., I, 1897, 

 p. 17. Type, none designated. C. patas Schreber? 



Size large, limbs long, slender ; pelage mostly reddish ; skin whitish 

 or pale blue ; face short ; angle from forehead to lips abrupt ; head flat 

 on top; tail long; teeth moderate, except canines, which in the adult 

 male are very long, cur\'ed and pointed ; first two upper premolars have 

 one outer and one inner cusp ; molars with two outer cusps ; second 

 molar the larger ; first lower premolar large and heavy. 



Unlike the members of the genus Lasiopyga those of the present 

 are not arboreal in their habits, but are dwellers of the open country 

 and the plains, and for travelling over such areas their long limbs are 

 specially adapted. They go in small companies, and the various 

 species appear to be quite local, and restricted in their ranges. Shy 

 and watchful, they are very difficult to approach even within the 

 reach of the long range rifles of the present day, and the animals 

 easily, on the approach of danger, find concealment in the long grass 

 that covers their accustomed haunts, and thus escape from their pur- 

 suers. On this account specimens in collections are usually few, and 

 there is no Museum that possesses a good representation of the vari- 

 ous species, indeed, in many institutions, they are conspicuous by their 

 absence, or by the presence of an example of the long known E. patas. 

 Of their food and habits in the wild state but little reliable informa- 

 tion has been obtained except of E. patas. They are very handsome 

 animals, and considerably larger than the species of Lasiopyga. 



LITERATURE OF THE SPECIES. 



1775. Schreber, Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit 

 Beschreibungen. 



ERYTHROCEBUS PATAS first described as Simia patas; and in 

 the volume of plates a figure given called S. rufa, which is 

 undeterminable, no species like it being known. 



1788. Gmelin, Sy sterna Nature. 



ERYTHROCEBUS PATAS (Schreb.), renamed Simia ruber. 



