SOME QUEER-NOSED MONKEYS 177 
than 2000 Bc. a so-called man of the Heu Yeung 
kingdom appears, from his tip-tilted nose, to be one or 
other of the species under consideration. 
In the foregoing remarks we have treated the three 
species of monkeys with eccentric nasal development 
merely as zoological curiosities. But it will be evident 
to every thinking mind that there must be a reason for 
such strange departures from the normal, and until we 
discover such reason we cannot be said to know anything 
worth knowing about these animals. Unfortunately, those 
who have had the opportunity of seeing these monkeys in 
their native haunts have not assisted us in this matter, and 
there is an absolute lack of information in regard to this 
all-important point. That the problem cannot be solved 
by guessing on the part of the stay-at-home naturalist 
may be regarded as practically certain. At the present 
day, owing partly to the anxiety to describe new species 
and varieties, and partly to the desire to obtain specimens 
of every animal for our museums, there appears a great 
tendency for intelligent explorers and travellers to de- 
generate from field-naturalists into mere collectors. And 
the pity of this is too obvious to need more than mention, 
It is indeed often said that it is most important to obtain 
specimens of species before they become extinct; but the 
discovery of the vazson d'étre of the tip-tilted nose of the 
Tibetan monkeys, or of the proboscis-like organ of their 
Bornean cousin, would be a thousand times more valuable 
than the acquisition of untold specimens of either. And 
even the recently acquired knowledge of the existence of 
the second species of snub-nosed monkey pales into un- 
importance when contrasted with the unsolved problem. 
By all means, then, let all those who have the opportunity 
put mere collecting into a very subsidiary place, and devote 
12 
