THE DIANA MONKEY 31 



The Guenons are well known to the natives of Africa as very- 

 destructive animals ; they constantly raid cultivated plots, and not 

 only destroy more than they eat, but carry off all they possibly can 

 in their cheek-pouches and their hands ; a monkey has been seen to 

 go off with five ears of maize at once. In their turn they are used for 

 food by men, and sometimes their skins are made into furs ; while among 

 other enemies they have to dread Leopards, large Snakes, and Eagles. 



Although the Diana has been selected for illustration on account 

 of its beauty and conspicuous appearance, and is a well-known animal 

 in captivity, it is not by any means the best known of the group, that 

 distinction belonging to the Green Monkey {Cercopithecus callitrichus),. 

 also West African. This species is olive-green, with a black face and. 

 yellow whiskers; it is a hardy animal, will live outdoors in England 

 with proper shelter, and has produced young in captivity. In spite 

 of its scientific name, it appears not to be the Callithrix (beautiful- 

 furred) of the ancients, which was more probably the splendid Guereza 

 Monkey. The Green Monkey is said to present the curious peculiarity 

 of having no voice. This monkey has been introduced into St. Kitts 

 and Barbadoes in the West Indies. 



In South and East Africa a very common species is the Vervet 

 {Cercopithecus pygerythrus), which is very much like the Green Monkey, 

 but has the whiskers white instead of yellow, is greyer , in tinge of 

 coat, and has black hands and feet instead of grey, and the tip of the 

 tail black instead of yellow, while it also has a reddish patch just under 

 the tail instead of a yellow one. Sir H. H. Johnston observed that the 

 monkey frequented native gardens on Kilimanjaro, at a height of 5000 

 feet; he also says that he ate it frequently, and found it went very 

 well in a stew. In the case of a specimen born in the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1893, it was noticed that the young animal had a Curious 

 habit of sucking both its mother's nipples at once. 



Most of the monkeys of this group are about the size of a light 

 terrier, but .one of them, the Talapoin (Cercopithecus talapoin) is only 

 about as large as a cat, and is thus the smallest monkey in the Old 

 World, though quite a giant compared to some of those in the New. 

 The Talapoin is a very quaint-looking little monkey, with a round 

 head and large eyes surrounded by yellow rings, a black nose and 



