A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
_Cynopithecus nigrescens_, Wallace, Malay Arch., i., p. 432 (1869).
CHARACTERS.--About the size of a Spaniel; head oblong; face very elongated,
naked; neck, hands, and feet also naked; nose triangular, the sides erect,
flattened behind nearly to the eyes, not extending to the end of the
muzzle, but leaving a broad upper lip; nostrils, with a long and broad
partition between them, directed downwards and outwards--a character seen
in the genus _Macacus_, and distinguishing this genus from the true Baboons
(_Cynocephalus_); cheek-swellings parallel to the nose, distinct, but not
conspicuously large; supra-orbital ridges very conspicuous; cheek-pouches
large; tail rudimentary, reduced to a fleshy tubercle, one inch long, and
hardly visible. Length, 24 inches.
Fur long and woolly over the body; especially long on the top of the head,
forming a crest; hair of the limbs shorter.
{282}Face, neck, hands, and feet black; fur all over the body and limbs
jet-black; callosities bright flesh-colour.
In the skull the maxillary bones are developed into strong lateral ridges
corresponding in structure to those of the most typical Baboons.
DISTRIBUTION.--This species is found far away from the habitat of the true
Baboons, whose home is in the Ethiopian Region. The Black Baboon is an
inhabitant of Celebes, one of the islands of the eastern portion of the
Malay Archipelago. It is found, however, also in the neighbouring island of
Batchian, further to the east--indeed the most easterly range of the
Quadrumana--as well as in some of the Philippine Islands to the west. In
both of these regions it is supposed to have been accidentally introduced
by the Malays. In Batchian, Mr. Wallace remarks, "it seems so much out of
place that it is difficult to imagine how it could have reached the island
by any natural means of dispersal, and yet not have passed by the same
means over the narrow strait to Gilolo--so that it seems more likely to
have originated from some individuals which had escaped from confinement,
these and similar animals being often kept as pets by the Malays and
carried about in their praus." Analogous to the distribution of this animal
in the Philippines and Celebes is that of a genus of
Parrots--_Prioniturus_--with racquet-shaped tails. The species of the
latter genus are divided between Celebes and its small adjacent islands and
the Philippines and the small islands adjacent to that archipelago, and
present a curious case of the restricted range of a well-marked group.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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