LONG-NOSED APES 569 



commit a sin vicariously. This Ape has immense powers of 

 leaping — a space of 20 to 30 feet can be cleared by them if 

 one side, that from which the leap is taken, be considerably higher 

 than the other. They are useful to the Tiger hunter, as they 

 follow and hoot at this, their deadly enemy, /S'. schistaceus is a 

 species which lives at great heights, not less than 5000 feet, in 

 the Himalayas. 



The genus jYasalis is hardly separable from the genus 

 Semnopithecus. It is a Bornean animal, and is distinguished by 

 a comical long nose, which not only suggests, but goes beyond, the 

 aquiline nose of the human species. It is no doubt on this 

 account that the Borneans, unconsciously imitating our habit of 

 comparing " natives " in general to Monkeys, call it by a name 

 which signities " white man." Bhinoj^ithecus has also a long, but 

 a more definitely upturned nose. 



Fossil Monkeys. — Several of the existing genera of Old-World 

 Apes are also known to have existed in past times ; in some cases 

 their past distribution indicates a greater range. Thus Macacus 

 is now represented — and that doubtfully — in Europe by the 

 Barbary Ape alone. But from Montpellier have been unearthed 

 the remains of M. jpriseus, from Pliocene beds. The Asiatic 

 Semnopithecus is known to have lived during the Pliocene period ; 

 its remains are discovered in France and Italy, as well as in 

 Asia. In addition to these existing forms, a number of totally 

 extinct Old-World genera are known. The rich formation at 

 Pikermi near Athens has produced Mesopithecics pcntelici ; this 

 Monkey has a skull which recalls that of Semnopithecus, while 

 the stout limbs are rather Macaque-like. As is the case with 

 many living Catarrhines, the males have stronger canines. The 

 animal had a long tail. 



An analogous annectent character is shown by the Italian 

 fossil, Oreopithecus hamholii. This animal was referred by one 

 palaeontologist to the Man-like Apes, by another to the Cerco- 

 pithecidae. It suggests a common ancestral form, and is Middle 

 Miocene in horizon. 



Just as there are no Platyrrhine Apes in the Old World so 

 there are no Catarrhines met with in a fossil condition in the New 

 World ; the two great divisions of the Apes were as distinct in 

 the past, so far as we know, as they are now — a strong argument 

 in favour of those who would derive them from two sources. The 



