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 Gruenons 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 Gruenons 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 simulare, 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 offspring 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 
