116 COLOBUS 



contrast to their sombre livery. The Red Colobi are the rarer, and 

 there is no considerable collection of them in any Museum, but the 

 black species are evidently more easily captured, and in a few collections 

 are fairly well represented. 



The Guerezas are forest loving animals, and striking as the 

 coloring of their coats may be, and large as is their size, they are not 

 easy to see amid the foliage, thus illustrating the well known fact, 

 that the most brilliantly colored creatures, such as the tiger and zebra, 

 are by no means the most conspicuous. Not many individuals are 

 found together, and they usually keep to the tops of the loftiest trees. 

 Their food consists of various fruits and leaves, and their peculiar 

 stomachs are admirably fitted to digest the latter, for great quantities 

 are rapidly swallowed at a time, as monkeys always eat in a hurry, 

 whether impelled by greediness or fear. The Black Colobi appear to 

 bear extremes of temperature without difficulty and are found at an 

 elevation of 9,000 feet on the great Uganda mountain of Ruwenzori, 

 and on the Elgon Plateau ; but they are equally at home in the tropical 

 forests of the same Protectorate, bearing well the extremes of cold 

 and heat. In Uganda, according to *Sir Harry Johnston, these 

 monkeys live entirely on leaves, and seem to dislike animal food. 

 Some native tribes eat them, and among the Andorobo it is the favorite 

 article of diet. As a rule they do not live long in captivity and require 

 much care; since deprived of an arboreal existence, they are not 

 reconciled to a life upon the ground. Of the Red Colobi very little is 

 known, as but few Europeans have met with them in the wild state. 



LITERATURE OF THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. 



1775. Schreber, Die Saugthiere. 



In the volumes of plates accompanying this work. Pennant's 



figure of the Full bottom Monkey, is given with the name Simla 



polycomus, but no description is added in the text. 

 1800. Shaw, General Zoology. 



Colobus ferrugineus first described as Simla ferruginea, and 



Simla comosa = S. polycomus Schreber. 

 1816. Oken, Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte. 



Colobus abyssinicus first described. 

 1820. Kuhl, Beltrdge cur Zoologle. 



Colobus temmincki first described. 



♦Uganda Protectorate, I, p. 362. 



