MACAQUES. SI 



temper does not seem to be so irritable as that of many monkeys ; and even when they 

 are roused to anger, their ire is comparatively evanescent. 



On account of the white hue which marks the eyelids, the Mangabeys are sometimes 

 termed the " White-eyelid Monkeys." The Sooty Mangabey is well named ; for its 

 general color is nearly black, something like a half-tint chimney-sweeper. The black 

 hue is only found in the adult animal, the color of the young Mangabey being a 

 fawn tint. Sometimes it goes by the name of the Negro Monkey ; and under these 

 several titles suffers somewhat from the confusion that is almost inseparable from such 

 uncertain nomenclature. It is rather a small animal, measuring some eighteen inches 

 or so from the nose to the root of the tail, which occupies about the same space. 



Among the peculiar habits which distinguish the Mangabeys, we may especially 

 notice the action of their lips, and the mode in which they carry the tail. They have a 

 strange way of writhing their faces into a kind of quaint grin, in which they raise the 

 lips, and exhibit the teeth almost as if they were laughing. When walking, they have 

 a fashion of turning their tails over their backs, and carrying them reversed, in a line 

 almost parallel with the direction of the spine. 



Few monkeys can assume more outri: attitudes than the Mangabeys, which seem to be, 

 among monkeys, almost the analogues of the acrobats among mankind ; and twist them- 

 selves into such strange contortions, that they seem to be able to dispense with the bones 

 and joints with which other animals are furnished. They seem to be quite aware of 

 their own accomplishments, and soon learn that their display will bring in a supply of 

 nuts, cakes, and fruit to their exchequer. So they keep a vigilant eye on the visitors, and 

 when they conceive that they have drawn attention to themselves, they execute a series 

 of agile gambols, in the hope of meeting the reward which sweetens labor. 



Their attention is soon excited by any object that is more than ordinarily glittering ; 

 jewellery of all kinds being as magnets, to which their eyes and fingers are instinctively 

 drawn. My own fingers have more than once been endangered by the exceeding zeal 

 manifested by the animal in its attempts to secure a ring to which it had taken a sudden 

 liking. The monkey held out its paw as if it wanted to shake hands, seized my fingers 

 with both its hands, and did its best to remove the object of its curiosity ; fortunately, 

 the ring fitted rather tightly, or it would probably have been lost or swallowed. As it 

 was, a few scratches on my hands, and an outburst of disappointed anger on the part 

 of the monkey, were the only results of the sudden attack. 



MACAQUES. 



THE various species of monkeys which are ranged under the common title of Maca- 

 ques, are mostly well-known animals ; being plentiful in their native lands, and frequently 

 domesticated, both in their own and in foreign countries. They are all inhabitants of 

 Asia, although the word Macaco is the name which is given to all kinds of quadruman- 

 ous animals on the coast of Guinea, and is almost synonymous with our own word 

 monkey. 



One of the best typical examples of this genus is found in the BONNET MACAQUE, or 

 MUNGA, as it is often called. A native of Bengal and Ceylon, it is a frequent visitor 

 to our shores ; being tolerably hardy in constitution, bearing the long voyage well ; and 

 suffering less from our insular climate than many of the monkey tribe. 



For the title of Bonnet it is indebted to the peculiar arrangement of the hairs on the 

 crown of the head, which radiate in such a manner that they seem to form a kind of 

 cap or bonnet. The general color of the animal is a rather bright olive-gray, fading into 

 white beneath. The skin of the face is of a leathery flesh color. 



The distinctions between the Macaques and the Cercopitheci, are not very striking ; 

 but by comparison of the two genera, sufficiently decided variations are visible. These 

 are rather comparative than absolute. In the Macaques, the muzzle is slightly more 

 solid than in the Guenons, the body and head are larger, and in most species the tail 



