THE GUENONS 97 



the same color above the eyes communicates a very peculiar and characteristic 

 physiognomy to the patas, which led Buffon to describe it as a monkey a bandeau 

 noir. 



One of the earliest accounts that we possess of the patas is given by an old 

 French traveler, Brue, but it is not to be relied on in all particulars. A living 

 example was first exhibited in the I/)ndon Zoological Society's menagerie about 

 the year 1834, since which date it has been abundantly represented. This original 

 example, which was very young, was described as being lively and active, but 

 somewhat irascible if disturbed or handled. 



THE NISNAS MONKEY {Cercopithecus Pyrrhonotus) 



On the opposite side of Africa, in Nubia and Somaliland, the place of the patas 

 is taken by a closely allied monkey, known as the nisnas. So similar, indeed, are 

 these two monkeys that Dr. Gray considered them merely as varieties of the same 

 species ; and it is quite probable that if we knew all the monkeys from the inter- 

 mediate districts of North Central Africa we should find that the one passed into 

 the other. However, as they are considered by the learned secretary of the Zoo- 

 logical Society to be distinct, we must, at least for the present, allow them to stand 

 apart. According to Dr. Gray, the nisnas is distinguished from the patas merely 

 by the red color of the body being continued on the shoulders and the outer sides 

 of the arms, instead of those parts assuming a blackish tinge. 



The nisnas is the species so frequently represented on the ancient Egyptian 

 monuments; and it appears to be undoubtedly the Cebus of the ancients, which, on 

 the authority of Pythagoras, was described by ^Elian as inhabiting the Red Sea 

 littoral, and was said to be of a bright flame color, with whitish whiskers and 

 under parts. 



SYKES'S MONKEY (Cercopithecus albogularis) 



With the nisnas we concluded ou notice of the group of guenons in which the 

 head is oval, the muzzle somewhat produced, the whiskers stiff, and the general 

 color greenish or red. 



With the East African Sykes's monkey we come to the second and more 

 typical group of these animals which are distinguished by the general form of the 

 head being rounded, the muzzle very short, the whiskers short and rounded and not 

 directed backwards, and the fur generally of a blackish hue, more or less tinged 

 with yellow. 



The present species appears to be the East African representative of the mona 

 monkey, to be immediately mentioned, from which it is distinguished by the absence 

 of the white spot on the haunches, and the pure white color of the under parts and 

 chest, which expands on to the throat, and thus suggests the scientific name of the 

 species. It is also of larger size than the mona, being the largest representative of 

 the genus. 



This monkey was originally brought to England by Colonel W. H. Sykes, by 

 whom it was described in 1851. The original specimen was purchased at Bombay, 

 7 



