22 CERCOPtTHECID.^;. 



upper parts varies from light brown to almost black at the base, 

 the terminal portion being annulated with yellow and brown or 

 black ; on the shoulders there are usually three rings of each 

 colour, fewer behind. In young specimens there is no annulation. 

 Eace, ears, and callosities varying from flesh-colour to dusky. Eye- 

 lids white or bluish white in many cases. 



Varieties. There are two prominent varieties of this well-known 

 monkey — a dark-coloured form with dusky face (M. carhonarms), 

 and a golden-i'ufous race {M. aureus). Both of these, as well as 

 the normal yellowish-brown type, are found in Burma. The 

 colour of the face vai-ies greatly, some dark-furred individuals 

 having a pale face, and vice versa. 



Dimensions. An old male measures : — head and body 22 inches, 

 tail 19, hand 3-9, foot 5-5. In another the head and body are 

 about 21 inches, tail 20. Females are smaller. A large adult 

 male skull measures 5-3 inches in extreme length, 4*1 from ante- 

 rior margin of foramen magnum, and 3*6 in bi'eadth aci'oss the 

 zygomatic arches; a female skull 4-35, 3, and 2*9 in the three 

 dimensions. 



Distribution. The crab-eating Monkey is found throughout a 

 great part of Burma, including Arakan, especially along tidal 

 creeks near the coast, and in the deltas of rivei's. It is not known 

 to occur on hills, nor has it been recorded with certainty from 

 Upper Burma. It is found in the Nicobar Islands (? introduced), 

 but not in the Andamans. Beyond our area it has a wide range 

 throughout Siam and the Malayan peninsula and islands. 



Hahits. Tickell, in his MS. notes, gives an excellent description 

 of this animal, from which most of the following details are 

 derived. He says that these monkeys are usually met with in 

 small parties of five to fifteen, consisting of one old male, four or 

 five females, and their young. They are especially common on 

 the banks of tidal creeks, where they live amongst the mangroves, 

 and feed upon seeds, Crustacea, and insects. The claws and body 

 of a crab were found in the cheek- pouch of a female shot in Arakan 

 by Captain (afterwards Sir A.) Phayre. The tidal creeks are, in 

 Tenasserim and Ai'akan, and in the delta of the Irawadi, the only 

 highroads of the country ; the monkeys, consequently, become fami- 

 liarized with the sigbt of men, and will allow of a near approach 

 and even pick up rice or fruit thrown to them. This I can confirm 

 from my own observation ; I have even known them, in Pegu, 

 follow a boat for some distance. 



They swim and dive well. Tickell mentions an instance of a 

 wounded male, that had been shot and placed in a boat, jumping 

 overboard and diving repeatedly, once to a cUstance of 50 yards, in 

 order to avoid recapture. 



There is no particular season for bi'eeding. Tlie young clings 

 tenaciously to the mother for the first month, after which it ven- 

 tures out little by little, and, to quote Tickell, " it is exceedingly 

 amusing to watch the rough tenderness with which the latter [the 

 mother] checks at first the ovei'-venturesome sallies of the little 



