THUMBLESS MONKEYS 
99 
which is quite after the fashion of modern human military tactics. A green sward separated the garden 
of one of his friends from the jungle, and across this a single Monkey would cautiously steal about 
twenty paces, and halt to assure himself, by eye and ear, that all was safe. Presently a second would 
venture out from the trees, pass in front of the first, and squat himself after making another recon- 
naissance. A third and a fourth would then stealthily approach, always gaining an advance beyond 
the last vedette, and finally the whole body, having ascertained the absence of danger, advanced hastily 
but noiselessly to the inclosure ; and having with infinite rapidity secured a sufficient supply of fruit, 
the troop dispersed simultaneously, with a rush and an exulting scamper, conscious tliat caution was 
no longer necessary. Possibly this Monkey becomes occasionally an albino, for white Monkeys having 
the general shape of the Priamus are captured every now mid then not far from Colombo ; and Spence 
Hardy mentions, in his work on “ Eastern Monachism,” that on the occasion of his visit to the Great- 
Temple of Darnbool he encountered a troop of white Monkeys on the rock on which it is situated. 
In the Semnopitheci and in the species of the next genus (Colobos) the face is long, the forehead 
rounded, and there is a decided angle to the jaw, so that the facial angle is considerable.* 
GENUS COLOBOS. f 
All the Monkeys of the genus Semnopithecus which have been found by travellers and naturalists 
live in Asia and its islands, and thus their geographical limit is precise. Now, there are some 
Monkeys which resemble them in most points, and which are only found in the forests of tropical 
Africa ; that is to say, in Abyssinia on the east, and from Gambia to Angola on the west. They are 
also found on the Island of Fernando Po. These have the thumbs of the hands extremely small, and 
they are but mere useless projections. They are Semnopitheci without thumbs, and the Greek word 
ko\o$6s (“ docked or stunted”) has been used to designate them. 
The kinds of Monkeys included in the genus Colobos are not very numerous, and they are 
interesting more on account of their beautiful skins, which form ornaments and articles of commerce 
in Africa, and for those suggestions which must occur to the mind of every one who thinks a little 
about natural history, regarding the cause of the absence of such an important structure as the thumb 
in a group of animals, whose other character’s are similar to those of a genus possessing it. Very little 
is known about their habits in a state of nature, and few have ever been brought alive to Europe. 
The thumb is not seen in the least in one kind of Colobos, the true Colobos ( Colobos verus) ; in 
others it is like a little knob, but in none is it of any use. In the corresponding member of other 
Monkeys there are three bones, one placed before the other. The first, the metacarpal, is the nearest 
the wrist, and is jointed to the wrist-bone called trapezium, and in front it is in contact with the 
second bone, or the first phalanx of the thumb. This is ended by the second phalanx, which bears the 
nail. These are terms used by anatomists, and the word metacarpal means “ the next in order of 
rank to the wrist.” These metacarpal bones intervene between the knuckles and the wrist, and are 
long and parallel with each other, there being five in the hand. They are not usually very movable 
on the wrist, but that of the thumb is, and they have a joint at the further end which unites them 
with the so-called internode or phalanx-bone, No. 1. The word internode means between joints, 
and the term phalanx is one of those unmeaning applications of Greek terms which abound in 
anatomy. The phalanx was an order of battle, and means rows placed in parallel order: the 
internodes of the fingers, when in place, are one before the other and side by side, like the soldiers ic 
the Greek order of battle. Each phalanx represents a bone: there are twe in the thumb, and three 
in the other fingers. In the Colobos there is a joint on the wrist-bone for a thumb, but no thumb 
exists, but there is just a little vestige of a bone, and it is probably the first phalanx, or internode, and 
not the metacarpal. 
The thumb is therefore u rudimentary ” in the genus Colobos, and why 1 The animals are 
tree-climbers and active jumpers, and can run very well on all-fours; in fact, their method of life 
* The kinds of Monkeys included in this genus have a very wide geographical range. Mr. Wallace states that a 
gpecies has been seen at an altitude of 11, COO fe^t in the Himalayas ; and Seynnopithecus roxellana, which resembles a 
young Semnopithecus nasalis, occurs in Eastern Tibet (about lat. 30° N.) in the highest forests. Elsewhere, they extend 
over the forest land of the Oriental region of natural history, 
f Thumbless Monkeys. 
