554 MAMMALIA. 



nails are flattened, like those of Man, and that they have two 

 pectoral mammae. 



The dimensions of the tail, and the part it plays, vary consider- 

 ably according to the genera. With the Orang and the Anthro- 

 pomorphous Monkeys it is entirely absent ; with the Magot and 

 some species of Macacus it is a scarcely visible rudiment ; and is 

 very short in the Mandrills. 



The Guenons and all the American Monkeys have, on the con- 

 trary, a long and more or less bushy tail. But while the caudal 

 appendage is only in the Guenons a kind of balancing instru- 

 ment, destined to maintain the equilibrium of the body as they 

 spring from one tree to another, this organ in the American 

 Monkeys occasionally becomes a real instrument of prehension, 

 owing to its property of firmly turning round the objects on which 

 the animal throws it. 



Monkeys possess in a high degree the gift of imitation : their 

 Latin name simius, from simidare, to imitate, indicates this. They 

 repeat, often with the greatest fidelity, human actions and atti- 

 tudes. Their conformation, so analogous to our own, renders the 

 majority of our movements easy to them, and what in certain 

 cases is taken for the result of intelligence, is only the result of 

 their organisation. 



Female Monkeys have only one ofi'spring at a time — very 

 rarely two. During the whole period of suckling, they evince the 

 liveliest tenderness for their progeny ; but after weaning, and 

 when the young are capable of attending to their own wants, 

 they can reckon no longer on maternal assistance ; they then 

 separate from their parents, and adopt an independent life. 



The senses of the Monkeys are highly developed : that of touch 

 is perfect, and hearing, as well as sight, are usually good. 



The greater part of the existence of these Quadrumana, in a 

 wild state, is passed on trees : it is only there that they can dis- 

 play, to their full extent, the astonishing faculties with which 

 nature has endowed them. They feed on fruits, and at times on 

 eggs and insects. 



There is an inconceivable vivacity in their movements, and their 

 activity is centred on twenty different objects in a minute. But 

 nothing need be said in this respect in the way of novelty to those 

 people who have observed them in their great cage at the Jardin 



