A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
MALE.--Face brownish flesh-colour on the muzzle and between the eyes,
bluish-white round the latter; frontal bar white; a narrow line from the
outer corner of the eye backwards, red; a horse-shoe-shaped crest, mid-line
of back, lower back, sacral region, and upper surface of tail, black, the
hairs being grey at base, and dark brown, or black, along their outer
portion; ears flesh-coloured, and the hair on and round them white; region
above the eyes and round the face, chin, and throat, yellowish-brown--the
hairs being ringed, above their grey bases, with dark brown and orange, and
tipped with black; on the shoulders, back of the neck and upper part of the
arms orange olive--the hairs having the orange rings more predominant than
the brown; rest of the fore limb yellowish-olive; thighs dusky-grey, washed
with black; buttocks grey; lower parts of body, inner sides of limbs, and
under side of tail, light greyish-brown; caudal tuft often bright rufous.
Excepting on the head, loins, tail, and buttocks, all the hairs are
annulated, above their grey bases, with orange and brown, and dark-tipped.
Hands and feet dusky flesh-colour.
FEMALE.--Smaller than the males, but the black of the head and back absent,
and the hairs of the under-parts not annulated; shoulders brighter than the
rest of the body, which is yellowish-olive, and greyish-olive on the
outside of the limbs.
{16}MALE.--Skull smaller, shorter, and more globular than that of _M.
nemestrinus_, which is its nearest ally; muzzle less projecting; little or
no depression of the nose between the eyes; supra-orbital ridges prominent;
orbits large, approximated; skull of the female feebler in all respects.
DISTRIBUTION.--Southern portion of Arracan, and the valley of the Irawady
in Upper Burmah. The Andaman Islands, whence Mr. Bartlett described a
specimen as a new species, was an erroneous habitat, as the specimen had
been introduced there from Burmah.
HABITS.--Very little is known of this rare species in its native state. In
captivity the females and the males, when young, become very tame, and are
capable of being taught various performances. A female which lived in the
Zoological Society's Gardens in 1869 was educated by the blue-jackets of
one of Her Majesty's ships, who had obtained her at the Andaman Islands,
and kept her on board for three or four years before she was sent to the
Gardens. "Jenny" exhibited an extraordinary degree of cleverness, as Mr.
Bartlett, the Superintendent, has narrated in _Land and Water_. She could
drink out of a bottle and smoke a pipe. She walked upright on her hind legs
with remarkable facility, and with much less effort than even the
performing Monkeys of the London streets. When in an erect attitude she
would carry things.
VII. THE PIG-TAILED MACAQUE. MACACUS NEMESTRINUS.
_Simia nemestrina_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 35 (1766).
_Le Maimon_, Audeb., Hist. Nat. Singes, Fam. ii., Sect. i., pl. i.
(1797).
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