174 



KNOWLEDGE 



[August 1, 1899. 



advanced age, the entire animal is concealed by a covering 

 of Sponges, Corallines, Algas, Actinia, and Alcyonia, 

 beneath which it is impossible to recognise the species." 

 Since crustaceans in general are subject during the 

 larger part of their lives to periodical casting of the skin, 

 it is evident that advancing age has very little to do with 

 the forests upon them. These do not grow out of the 

 crabs like the cherry tree out of Baron Munchausen's 

 stag. They are under the control of the crustacean itself, 

 to wear or not to wear, and can be adopted without any 

 tedious waiting for their growth. The Lamhri, which are 

 numerous throughout the China Sea, living on submerged 

 beds of broken shells and muddy gravel, suit themselves to 

 their situation, many species, according to Adams and 

 White, appearing " at first sight to be made up of a con- 

 glomerated mass of small stones and sand." 



Our regard for all these animals must be heightened, 

 now that we know more about their action and inaction. 

 Neither the one nor the other is governed by vanity or 

 superstition, or sloth. They know their own business and 

 do it. Like naturalists, they find the absolute necessity of 

 a quiet, retired life for carrying out their purposes. To 

 secure this, they exchange the pomps and vanities of 

 existence for a modest garb of mud and stones, or, avail- 

 ing themselves of their peculiar tubules and their uncinate 

 and serrate spines, they deliberately plant upon their 

 bodies a grove or tangle of such animals and vegetables as 

 are suited to grow there. After all this trouble, it would be 

 ridiculous for them to go scuttling around, and so to let all 

 sorts of intruders and busybodies know their whereabouts, 

 which they have been at so much pains to conceal. When 

 they are forcibly transferred from one set of surroundings 

 to another, they have an instinct which teaches them to 

 change their dress to suit their new environment. This 

 instinct, or faculty higher than instinct, is commended to 

 the reader as a matter suggestive of many pleasing and 

 interesting experiments. 



A CONTRAST IN NOSES. 



By E. Lydekker. 



OF all the features of the human countenance none 

 seems more prone to exhibit marked variations 

 in size and shape than the nose. A broad and 

 flattened nose is, for instance, characteristic of 

 negroes and Australian natives, whereas the classic 

 or Grecian nose is found only among the highest types of 

 the Caucasian races of Europe. But while the nasal 

 organs of the lower races of mankind differ in general from 

 those of the higher peoples of Western Europe, yet it is 

 among the latter that perhaps the greatest amount of varia- 

 tion in this respect may be noticed. And although even 

 among these mixed Western nations a considerable amount 

 of such nasal variability is evidently hereditary and distinc- 

 tive of particular families or races, yet there are many in- 

 stances in which it appears largely individual, although it 

 may, of course, be due to reversion. Be this as it may, it 

 will suffice for our present purpose to note that among Euro- 

 pean races a distinctly " snub-nosed," or " tip-tilted," type 

 is not uncommon on the one extreme, while at the other 

 we have what is commonly called the "long-nosed" type ; 

 the latter being broadly distinguished from the arched 

 Roman, or aquiline, nose. 



Now, it is a remarkable fact in natural history that 

 whereas the great majority of the monkeys and apes of the 

 Old World have noses of an ordinary pattern, that is to 

 say, not very far removed from the type characterizing the 

 nferior representatives of the human race, three of them 



have developed peculiarities in this respect which entitle 

 them to be regarded as among the most extraordinary of all 

 four-footed beasts. And not the least remarkable circum- 

 stance in connection with these nasal eccentricities is that 

 the two extremes are found in members of a single group 

 inhabiting widely distant and completely isolated areas. 



Before referring to the species displaying these remark- 

 able peculiarities, it will be well to briefly refer to their 

 nearest relatives. These are most familiarly known by 

 the sacred Hanuman monkey, or Langur, of India, which 

 is one of a large group of species inhabiting most of the 

 Oriental countries ; one kind, the Himalayan Langur, 

 being found at a considerable elevation in the outer hills 

 of the mighty range from which it takes its name. And 

 in winter, or early spring, these large grey monkeys may 

 frequently be seen disporting themselves among pines 

 heavily laden with snow. As distinctive features of the 

 Langurs, reference may be made to their slim build, long 

 hind legs and tail, and the absence of pouches in the 

 cheeks for the storage of food. Their hair is long and 

 coarse, and may be of any colour from slaty grey to bright 

 foxy red or black. All have, for monkeys, fairly well- 

 formed noses, of ordinary dimensions. Unlike the majority 

 of the members of their order, they feed on leaves in 

 preference to fruits ; and, as showing how similarity of 

 habit gives rise to similarity of structure (or, if the reader 

 so please, rice versa), it is interesting to note that the 

 Langurs have complex stomachs, strikingly similar to those 

 of sheep and ruminants in general; most other monkeys 

 having simple stomachs of the normal type. 



As already mentioned, the three species of monkeys 

 which have gone in for eccentric nasal development are 

 near relatives of the Langurs. The first of these, which 

 has been known in Europe since 1781, is an inhabitant 

 of Borneo, where, be it observed, there are also true 

 Langurs with normal noses. As may be seen from 

 our figure (1), which represents a male in the Natural 

 History Museum, the Proboscis Monkey, as the species is 

 called, is characterised by the inordinate length of the 

 nasal organ of the adult male, which projects several 

 inches in front of the line of the mouth, and gives to the 

 whole physiognomy a most grotesque appearance. So 

 remarkable, indeed, is the face of this monkey, that the 

 first view of a stuffed specimen suggests to the beholder 

 that it has been "faked," after the fashion of the " bogus" 

 animals formerly manufactured by our Japanese friends. 

 The nostrils are situated on the under surface of the tip of 

 this ungainly proboscis, and are separated from one another 

 by an extremely narrow partition. In the case of the 

 female the degree of nasal development is considerably 

 less ; and in the young of both sexes the nose is compara- 

 tively short, with the nostrils visible from the front, instead 

 of being directed downwards. In point of size the Pro- 

 boscis Monkey is a comparatively large animal, the length 

 of the head and body of the adult male being about thirty 

 inches, and that of the tail some three inches less. Its 

 colour is likewise conspicuous and striking, the upper parts, 

 with the exception of a light band across the loins, being 

 brilliant chestnut, and the face, which is fringed with long 

 yellowish hair, a reddish flesh-colour. 



Far more brilliant in colour is the first of the two 

 Tibetan species which exhibit the opposite type of nasal 

 eccentricity in the Langur group. But these snub-nosed 

 monkeys, as they may be appropriately called, are fully as 

 large as the Bornean species, and as they are of much 

 stouter build, both as regards body and limbs, they look 

 considerably bigger. Instead of a proboscis-like develop- 

 ment of nose these two very peculiar monkeys have their 

 nasal organs bent suddenly upwards at a sharp angle to 



