222 
ON THE aEOaEAPHICAL 
Philippines, or on the continent of Asia ; and that it 
shews, in each of those places, differences, indeed often 
very slight, but usually constant. We ask, how are we 
to dispose of these local varieties ? Are we to consider 
them as such, or as races of the same species, or are they 
deserving of being elevated to the rank of species ? The 
attempts which I may be said to have made to accommo- 
date my views to Nature, lead me to conclude, that to 
designate each of such petty varieties under a proper and 
specific name, would tend to the confusion of science ; and 
that it would be more profitable to recognise one only of 
the conditions which modify the nature of animals, than to 
augment the catalogue of them with many new names. 
I know that my readers will have difficulty in forming 
an idea, from description, of all the minute modifications 
which the same species undergoes in different places, and 
that it is often difficult to indicate them ; but not being 
able to place before their eyes those immense collections, 
and those numerous series of individuals of the same spe- 
cies, in a wordj the materials which have served as the 
basis of my work, I am obliged to state some facts in 
justification of my manner of viewing the question. Let 
us take our examples first from the Mammifera. 
The most common monkey, that most widely spread 
through the Indian Archipelago, is the Macaque of 
Bupfox, the Hare-lipped Monkey of Pennant, Cerco- 
pithecus cynomolgus. The ordinary variety of this spe- 
cies comes from the Island of Java ; it is constantly of a 
greenish tint, and the hairs of the head are a little ele- 
vated into a sort of tuft ; the specimens from Timor re- 
semble those of Java in all respects, except that they have 
deeper tints, and that their fur is more close, which gives 
them the appearance of having the limbs less slender 
than the individuals from Java : those from the Island of 
Sumatra often have the back of a reddish tint ; their face 
is somewhat more black than usual ; the hairs of the 
head shorter, and incapable of being raised into a tuft : 
the race of the Island of Borneo is, in some measure, in- 
termediate between that of Sumatra and Java, having the 
tint of the fur of those of Java, and resembling those of 
