156 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



ly riotous, are confined to displays of playfulness 

 and mischief, and are entirely free from the fierce 

 and malignant tempers displayed in a greater or less 

 degree among all the baboons. When taken at an early 

 age they are readily tamed, and become playful and 

 familiar ; they are extremely agile, though generally 

 calm and circumspect in their motions, and learn 

 a variety of tricks, which they perform with much 

 cunning and address. In a wild state they are gre- 

 garious, and, bird-like, inhabit the rich forests of Africa 

 and Asia. 



The divisions which Frederic Cuvier has proposed, 

 are entitled by him Semnopitheques and Guenons. 

 The former he places next to the Gibbons, which 

 some of the species so much resemble in different 

 parts of the skeleton, as to be with difficulty recog- 

 nised, and designates them Semnoptihecus, from the* 

 grave and serious character of the animals contained in 

 it. But before proceeding with these, we shall describe 

 two monkeys, which, though generally admitted into 

 the Guenon group, are so imperfectly known as to 

 render any classification, however near we may come 

 in our analogical reasonings, to be uncertain. The 

 first of these is 



