The Douc (_fig. 212._) is the last among that class of animals which we have called Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys. This animal, without belonging to any one of these three precisely, yet partakes of them all. Of the monkeys by the length of his tail; of the baboons by his size; and of the ape by the flatness of his face. By a very particular character he seems to form the shade between the monkey and the sapajous. These two tribes differ from the monkeys, having naked posteriors, and all the sapajous having them covered with hair; and the douc is the only monkey which has hair on the posteriors like the sapajous. He resembles them also in the flatness of the muzzle; but he is infinitely nearer to the monkey than the sapajous, from his long tail, and other very essential characters. Besides, the interval which separates these two families is immense, for the douc, and all the monkeys, are natives of the Old Continent, whereas the sapajous are only found in the New. We might also remark, that as the douc has a long tail like the monkeys, but no callosities on his posteriors, he forms the link which connects the orang-outang and the monkeys, as the gibbon does in another respect, having no tail, like the orang-outangs, but only callosities on the posteriors. Independently of these general relations, the douc has particular characters which render him very remarkable, and distinguish him from the apes, baboons, monkeys, or sapajous, at first sight. His skin, which is variegated with different colours, seems to indicate the ambiguity of his nature, and distinguishes his species in a very evident manner. He has a purple collar about his neck, a white beard, his lips are brown, and he has a black ring round his eyes; his face and ears are red, the top of his head and body grey, and the breast and belly yellow. His legs are white downwards and black upwards. His tail is white, with a large spot of the same colour on his loins; and his feet are black, intermixed with shades of different colours. This animal, which we were assured came from Cochin-China, seems to be likewise found at Madagascar, and is the same as that indicated by Flacourt by the name of _sifac_ in the following terms: "There is, (says he) another kind of white monkey at Madagascar, which has a brown collar, and is often seen erect on its hind feet: its tail is white, with two brown spots on the flanks: it is larger than the _vari_ (maucauco) but less than the _varicossi_ (vari) and this animal is called _sifac_. It lives upon beans. There are great numbers of them towards Andrivoura, Dambourlomb, and Ranafoulchy." The brown collar, the white tail, and the spots on the flanks, are characters which clearly indicate that this _sifac_ of Madagascar is the same species with the douc of Cochin-China.