152 



ORDER QUADRUMANA— GENUS CERCOPITHECUS. 



in its long arms, with the head resting between its linees, the Syndacty- 

 lous Gibbon utters a disagreeable cry, like that of a Turkey, and appa- 

 rently without any motive. When in confinement it takes its food with 

 indifference, raises it to the mouth without eagerness, and allows it to be 

 taken away without astonishment. The manner of drinking consists in 

 plunging the fingers in water, and then sucking them. 



The forehead is almost wholly wanting, the eyes are sunk in their 

 orbits, the nose is broad and flat. The nostrils, placed likewise in this 

 species on the sides of the nose, are very large; the mouth opens the 

 whole extent of the jaws, and the cheeks are buried under the projecting 

 cheek-bones. A large naked sac, oily, and flabby like a goitre, hangs 

 under the throat : the hair is glossy, soft, long, and thick, of a deep 

 black, except on the eyebrows and chin, where it is reddish. The thighs 

 being arched inwards are always bent. The guttural sac of this animal 

 extends and swells largely, occasioning the peculiarity of its cry. It is 

 rather above three and a half feet in height. 



All the Apes of the Old Continent, which now remain to be de- 

 scribed, have the liver divided into several lobes : the ccECum large, 

 short, and without appendage ; and the hyoid bone shaped like a 

 buckler. 



GENUS IV. CERCOPITHECUS.'— GUENONS. 



Si/n. Les Guenons. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 91. 



CERCOPITHECUS fin part) Briss.^ Reg. Anim. 193 Erxl. 22 Illig. 



Prodr. 68. — Temm. Mon. Mam. 

 Cercoceeds (in part) et Cercopithecus.— Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 

 — Desm. Mam, 



Sevua (in part), — Linn, Gmel,. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



The Muzzle slightly elongated. The Stomach round, and of medium 

 size. 



The Body and Limbs slender. 



The Thumbs of the anterior hands short. 



The Nails of the thumbs flat, the remainder semi-cylindrical. 



The Hands pentadactylous. 



The Tail long. 



The Callosities and Cheek-pouches always present. 



The Hair plentiful. 



The Last Molar of the lower jaw with four tubercles only. 



Inhabit Africa. 



With a muzzle projecting about 60", the Guenons have cheek- 

 pouches, a tail, and callosities, while the last true molar in the lower 

 jaw, like the other two, has only four tubercles. The species are 

 very numerous, varying greatly in size and colour. These ani- 

 mals are abundant in Africa, where they live in troops, and make 

 great havoc in gardens and cultivated fields. They may be easily 

 tamed. 



This genus contains fifteen species, the reality of which cannot reason- 

 ably be doubted.' Three others, noticed by writers of good authority, 

 are apparently referable to this genus, but the information given is as yet 

 insuflicient fuUy to establish their claims. 



The dentition of the Guenons has been verified upon all the species. 

 In the upper jaw, the first incisor is twice as broad as the second ; the 

 latter is narrow, and does not rise to the level of the first. The canine 

 is very long, sharp, and trenchant on its hinder part, and a small interval se- 

 parates it from the incisors. The first false molar, which touches the canine, 

 presents externally a conical point, and internally an oblique plane, 

 swelling in the middle, and circumscribed at its lower part by a project- 

 ing border. The second false molar is larger than the first, and has the 

 same form, except that the internal border is so much elevated, as to ap- 

 pear almost like a tubercle. The three real molars are nearly of equal 

 size, and composed of four similar tubercles, arising from a horizontal 

 and a transverse furrow, intersecting each other at right angles, and di- 

 viding the tooth into four equal parts. In the lower jaw, the first incisor, 

 though smaller than the corresponding tooth in the opposite jaw, is still 

 larger than the second incisor. It terminates in a straight line, while the 

 second incisor is sloped off towards the canine. The latter mentioned 



tooth is not so strong as the canine of the opposite jaw, but is sharp, 

 rounded, and terminated at its base behind by a very prominent heel, di- 

 vided by a slight groove into two lobules. The first false molar presents 

 no conical point, but is remarkable for an inclined plane extending an- 

 teriorly and externall)', much longer than the other, upon which the in- 

 ternal and flat part of the opposite canine glides by a movement exactly 

 similar to that exhibited by the carnassier teeth of the carnivorous ani- 

 mals, being in fact the same as the action of a pair of scissors. The 

 second false molar exhibits a conical tubercle in front, and a circular de- 

 pression towards the middle of the hinder part. The three following 

 molars increasing gradually in size from the first to the third, exactly re- 

 semble the molars of the opposite jaw. 



The Guenons, in respect to their organization, seem to hold a medium 

 station among all the Apes of the Old Continent. The head is tolerably 

 round, although the muzzle projects, and their facial angle is about 50°. 

 Their ears are of medium size, and similar in form to those of man. 

 The nose is flat, their forms light and slender, their tail and limbs elon- 

 gated, but not so much so as in the Solemn Apes (^Semnopithecus), while, 

 on the contrary, the thumbs of their anterior hands, though short, are 

 longer than those of the latter. The callosities of all the species are very 

 strong, and their cheek-pouches well marked. Their teeth have very 

 prominent tubercles, and are not worn down by detrition as in the Solemn 

 Apes. This arises from the circumstance that the Guenons live princi- 

 pally upon fruits and roots, while the Solemn Apes feed chiefly upon 

 leaves. The stomach of the Guenons is round and of medium size. 

 There is no important variation in the colours of the sexes. 



These animals are evidently formed for residing on trees, which are at 

 once their abode and place of refuge. On being alarmed, they instantly 

 take flight, and leaping rapidly from bough to bough, soon disappear. 

 The leap is their habitual pace, for they can walk on two limbs only with 

 considerable difficulty, and they are equally unadapted for making any 

 rapid progress upon four. Hence they never willingly adopt these 

 paces, excepting for very short distances, or when they are not hurried. 



Their cheek-pouches, which are large, serve as magazines for de- 

 positing their food. Numerous troops disperse themselves in the fields 

 and gardens near their native forests, pillage them of fruit, and, filling 

 their cheek-pouches, retreat on the slightest alarm to their inaccessible 

 abodes in the woods. 



There is something hasty and capricious in the manners of the Guen- 

 ons, which strikes an observer at the first glance. Nothing can fix their 

 attention for any length of time to one object. The dread of continual 

 torture serves to command it for a moment ; and in a few rare instances 

 they have been known to become attached by kind treatment. Their 

 curiosity is very great ; but, when apparently occupied in attentively ex- 

 amining some object, the slightest circumstance is sufficient to divert 

 their attention, and the object in their hands is instantly allowed to fall 

 to the ground. It is interesting to remark the rapidity and caprice with 

 which they change every moment their temper and occupations- 



Although there are many species of Apes in Africa, yet it is remarked 

 by travellers that they do not mix promiscuously, but that each occupies 

 a separate district. 



All the Guenons yet known are of African origin. One species is said 

 to come from Bengal, but this is most probably an error, 



L CERCOPITHECUS RUBER.— RED GUENON, 

 Syn. Le Patas. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 91. 



SiMA rubra. — Linn. Gmel. I, 42 Fisch. Syn. Mam. 24'. 



CERCOPITHECUS ruber Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. 96 Desm. Mam. 59. 



Red Monkey — Penn, Quadr, 208, — Shaw, Gen. Zool. I. 49. 

 Icon. Patas male adulle Geoff, et F. Cuv. Hist. Mam. 



Le Patas a queue courte. — Audeb. Sing. 



Patas a bandeau noir feraelle. — Geoff, et F, Cuv. Hist. Mam, 



Buffon, Hist. Nat. XIV. pi. 25 and 26. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



The Hair of a bright yellowish-red above, white beneath, a black or a 

 white band over the eye. 

 Inhabits Senegal, 



The Red Guenon is remarkable for the brilliancy of its coat, which is 

 of so bright a red on the upper part, that it appears as if exaggerated by 

 the hand of a painter. There are two varieties of this species, the one 



1 Ccrcopithecus (x.i^x.0;, hirkos, tail, and 'TTiSvii,, pitliex, an Ape), Apes with tails, a name in use among the ancient Greeks Note of the Baron Cuvier. 



2 Briss. Reg. .4nim — Le Regne Animal, divise en IX. classes, par M. Brisson. Paris, 1756. 



s The Baron Cnvier. in the second edition of the Regne Animal, enumerates only thirteen species. Two others have since been established, mating the number as stated 

 in the text. The catalogues of most other systematic writers run very wide of the mark. Temminck (Mon. Mam.) asserts that there are 19 or 20, but does not specify them. 

 Geoffroy (.\nn. Mus.) distributed the species of this genus among two genera (Cercopithecus and Cercocebus), and bis example was followed by Desmarest. But the institu- 

 tion of the genus Semnopithecus by Fred. Cuvier occasioned the latter (Cercocebus) to be suppressed in all works of any authority, and reduced the number of species in the 

 genus Cercopithecus from 20 or 21 to 13. However, the Catalogues of British Zoologists still exhibit the old division Cercocebtis, which rests upon no real basis, in addi- 

 tion to the new genus Semnopithecus, thus multiplying sub-divisions without any adequate reason. Major Hamdton Smith, Sir William Jardine, and JJr Stark, have followed 

 M. Desmarest pretty closely, merely omitting C. maurus. Of their 18 species, at least five are fictitious or referable to other genera. These nominal species are C. auratus, 

 latibarbatus, pileatus, albocinereus, and Atys. 



