SOME QUEER-NOSED MONKEYS 177 



than 2000 b.c, a so-called man of the Heu Yeung 

 kingdom appears, from his tip-tilted nose, to be one or 

 other of the species under consideration. 



In the foregoing remarks we have treated the three 

 species of monkeys with eccentric nasal development 

 merely as zoological curiosities. But it will be evident 

 to every thinking mind that there must be a reason for 

 such strange departures from the normal, and until we 

 discover such reason we cannot be said to know anything 

 worth knowing about these animals. Unfortunately, those 

 who have had the opportunity of seeing these monkeys in 

 their native haunts have not assisted us in this matter, and 

 there is an absolute lack of information in regard to this 

 all-important point. That the problem cannot be solved 

 by guessing on the part of the stay-at-home naturalist 

 may be regarded as practically certain. At the present 

 day, owing partly to the anxiety to describe new species 

 and varieties, and partly to the desire to obtain specimens 

 of every animal for our museums, there appears a great 

 tendency for intelligent explorers and travellers to de- 

 generate from field-naturalists into mere collectors. And 

 the pity of this is too obvious to need more than mention. 

 It is indeed often said that it is most important to obtain 

 specimens of species before they become extinct ; but the 

 discovery of the raison d'etre of the tip-tilted nose of the 

 Tibetan monkeys, or of the proboscis-like organ of their 

 Bornean cousin, would be a thousand times more valuable 

 than the acquisition of untold specimens of either. And 

 even the recently acquired knowledge of the existence of 

 the second species of snub-nosed monkey pales into un- 

 importance when contrasted with the unsolved problem. 

 By all means, then, let all those who have the opportunity 

 put mere collecting into a very subsidiary place, and devote 



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