TOO 
APES AND MONKEYS. 
monuments; and it appears to be undoubtedly the Cebus of the ancients, which, on 
the authority of Pythagoras, was described by /Elian as inhabiting the Red Sea 
littoral, and was said to be of a bright flame-colour, with whitish whiskers and 
under-parts. 
Sykes’s Monkey ((■crcojntkecm alboijidaris). 
With the nisnas wo concluded our notice of the group of guenons in which the 
head is oval, the muzzle somewhat produced, the whiskers stiff, and the general 
colour greenish or red. 
o 
With the East African Sykes’s monkey we come to the second and more 
typical group of these animals which are distinguished by the general form of the 
head being rounded, the muzzle very short, the whiskers short and rounded and 
not directed backwards, and the fur generally of a blackish hue, more or less 
tinged with yellow. 
The present species appears to be the East African representative of the mona 
monkey, to be immediately mentioned, from which it is distinguished by the absence 
of the white spot on the haunches, and the pure white colour of the under-parts 
and chest, which extends on to the throat, and thus suggests the scientific name of 
the species. It is also of larger size than the mona, being the largest representative 
of the genus. 
This monkey was originally brought to England by Colonel W. H. Sykes, 
by whom it was described in 1831. The original specimen was purchased at 
Bombay, and was said to have come from Madagascar (where, by the way, monkeys 
are unknown), but it was doubtless imported from Zanzibar. 
In describing the original living specimen, Colonel Sykes observes that its 
manners “ are grave and sedate. Its disposition is gentle, but not affectionate ; free 
from that capricious petulance and mischievous irascibility which characterise so 
many of the African species, but yet resenting irritating treatment, and evincing 
its resentment by very sharp blows with its anterior hands. It never bit any 
person on board ship, but so seriously lacerated three other monkeys, its fellow- 
passengers, that two of them died of the wounds. It readily ate meat, and would 
choose to pick a bone, even when plentifully supplied with vegetables and dried 
fruits.” 
The Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona). 
One of the most familiar of all the guenons is the mona monkey, represented 
in the upper figure of the accompanying woodcut. This beautiful little monkey 
may be always easily recognised by the presence of a large and distinct white spot 
of an oval shape, situated on each hip immediately in front of the root of the tail; 
the feature being quite peculiar to the species. In size it is rather smaller than 
the patas. 
The mona is a West African monkey; and has no real right to its name, 
which is merely the Moorish word for monkeys in general. The general hue of the 
fur of this monkey is described by Dr. Gray as blackish-olive, finely grizzled with 
yellow; this gradually darkens towards the hinder parts of the body, so that the 
tail and the outer surfaces of the limbs are nearly black. The under surface of the 
