TAILED MONKEYS 53 



the disdainful creatures by the tail and then spring up into 

 the rigging, dragging the unfortunate after him, regardless 

 of its struggles. He would go through the performance 

 with a gravity that was most amusing to the onlookers. 

 The monkeys found it necessary to take united action 

 against their tailless persecutor, but he usually eluded them 

 with the greatest ease. He would seize a rope and swing 

 from his pursuers, or he would walk along a cord, keeping 

 his balance true with his arms like a tight-rope performer. 

 He could spring from one rope to another with easy 

 abandon, and even drop with unerring precision from a 

 cord aloft to seize another that dangled far below. 



FAMILY CERCOPITHECID^. 



All the remaining apes and monkeys of the Old World are 

 included in the family Cercopithecidce, i.e., Tailed Monkeys, 

 which is divided into two sub-families the Cercopithecinae 

 and the Semnopithecina3. They are similar in construction 

 to the Anthropoid apes in many particulars ; but, with the 

 exception of one or two species, they are provided with 

 tails, which in the case of the Baboons are short, but in 

 most instances are very long. It has been before remarked 

 that the tail is never prehensile. Another great point in 

 which these monkeys differ from the Simiidas is that the 

 arms are shorter than the legs, which is the reverse in the 

 most man-like apes. Indeed, the members of the Quadru- 

 mana with which we now have to deal are distinctly of a 

 more quadrupedal nature, and in any case the long tail 

 largely dissipates the resemblance to the human form. 



Space alone will prevent even the mention of many 

 monkeys, but the following present special points of inte- 

 rest, and are fairly representative of one of the most 

 popular sections of the animal world. 



Most of the monkeys that are exhibited in this country 

 belong to the great genus Cercopithecus, and many of them 

 diifer in such slight particulars, often only in the shade of 

 the hair, as to be indistinguishable except to a practised 

 eye. Very well known species are the Green, the Vervet, 



