44 



THE MONKEYS OF THE OLD WORLD. 



in the cat tribe, it should not be forgotten 

 that this tooth is the last of all to attain 

 its full development, notwithstanding that 

 it cuts the gum sooner than others. It is, 

 moreover, a tooth greatly affected by sex. 

 All males among the monkeys have far larger 

 canines than the females, and this dispro- 

 portion, which is connected with the develop- 

 ment of the jaws generally, and that of the 

 ridges and borders of the skull, may become 

 so considerable that we might often believe 

 that we had before us skulls of two different 

 species instead of skulls belonging to different 

 sexes of the same species. Hence it follows 

 that in this case the character of the canines 

 as well as that of the whole dentition is 

 influenced not by the nature of the food but 

 by the duty of defence, which falls chiefly on 

 the male. 



With the development of the canines is 

 connected that of the diastema or gap between 

 the teeth leaving room for the canines of the 

 opposite jaw. The teeth of the upper and 

 lower jaw always fit into one another when 

 the mouth is shut in such a manner that the 

 projecting canine of the lower jaw becomes 

 wedged into a gap behind the incisors of the 

 upper jaw, while the canine of the upper jaw, 

 usually considerably larger than that of the 

 lower, gets similarly wedged between the 

 canine of the lower jaw and the first premolar, 

 the form of which is essentially modified 

 thereby ; but the size and depth of these gaps 

 depends, as may easily be seen, on the size 

 of the canines. 



The original milk dentition always consists, 

 as already remarked in the Introduction, of 



twenty teeth ( ~^-— ^ — '— = 20 J, and differs 



from the final dentition, not merely in the 

 absence of the molars, but also in the greater 

 strength and breadth of the inner incisors, in 

 the smaller size of the canines, and the 

 sharper tubercles of the premolars. 



All tailed monkeys are diurnal in their 

 habits, and most of them live together in 



herds of thirty or more, under the leadership 

 of one of the older males, who is probably the 

 patriarch of the whole troop, and usually 

 maintains a strict rule. The monkey brings 

 up his young in much the same way as man, 

 often with excessive tenderness and great 

 care, shown especially in combing, currying, 

 and searching for parasites (a favourite occu- 

 pation, represented in several of our plates). 

 Males and females defend their young with 

 bravery and fearlessness; but at the same 

 time they punish them by boxing them on 

 the ears, or cudgelling them, if they have 

 committed any offence against the rules 

 of the herd or have failed to render due 

 obedience. They instruct them with the 

 utmost zeal in all the arts necessary for life, 

 they lead them about in their tender years, 

 afterwards guide them in climbing, running, 

 and leaping, and in seeking for food and 

 hiding-places; in short, they look after their 

 bodily and mental welfare like good parents. 



Young monkeys are mostly ready for all 

 kinds of games and sports, and easily tamed. 

 In a troop of monkeys living in freedom 

 there nearly always prevails bustling activity, 

 continual commotion, and boundless game- 

 someness, which only seldom degenerates 

 into open quarrel and violence. In youth 

 they are all sly, tricky, easily excited, observ- 

 ant, imitative, and it is only at a later 

 stage, on reaching puberty, that the more 

 disagreeable qualities come out, cunning, ill- 

 nature, lasciviousness. Yet in these respects 

 the most extensive gradations are observ- 

 able, and between many Cercopitheci, good- 

 humoured to excess, even stupid, and the 

 savage ill-natured baboons, conscious of their 

 strength, there is a wide chasm. 



All tailed monkeys enjoy vegetable food, 

 but perhaps the Semnopitheci are the only 

 ones that feed upon it almost exclusively. 

 Insects, eggs, birds, are readily eaten, and 

 many, such as the baboons, feed chiefly on 

 animal food, and do not even despise poison- 

 ous scorpions, millipedes, and large spiders. 



