Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882

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The tailed monkeys of Asia consist of two groups, the first of which
have no cheek pouches, but always have very long tails, They are
true forest monkeys, very active and of a shy disposition. The most
remarkable of these is the long-nosed monkey of Borneo, which is very
large, of a pale brown color, and distinguished by possessing a long,
pointed, fleshy nose, totally unlike that of all other monkeys. Another
interesting species is the black and white entellus monkey of India,
called the "Hanuman," by the Hindoos, and considered sacred by them.
These animals are petted and fed, and at some of the temples numbers
of them come every day for the food which the priests, as well as the
people, provide for them.

The next group of Eastern monkeys are the Macaques, which are more like
baboons, and often run upon the ground. They are more bold and vicious
than the others. All have cheek pouches, and though some have long
tails, in others the tail is short, or reduced to a mere stump. In some
few this stump is so very short that there appears to be no tail, as in
the magot of North Africa and Gibraltar, and in an allied species that
inhabits Japan.

AMERICAN MONKEYS.

The monkeys which inhabit America form three very distinct groups:
1st, the Sapajous, which have prehensile or grasping tails; 2nd, the
Sagouins, which have ordinary tails, either long or short; and, 3rd, the
Marmosets, very small creatures, with sharp claws, long tails which are
not prehensile, and a smaller number of teeth than all other American
monkeys. Each of these three groups contain several sub-groups, or
_genera_, which often differ remarkably from each other, and from all
the monkeys of the Old World.

We will begin with the howling monkeys, which are the largest found in
America, and are celebrated for the loud voice of the males. Often in
the great forests of the Amazon or Oronooko a tremendous noise is heard
in the night or early morning, as if a great assemblage of wild beasts
were all roaring and screaming together. The noise may be heard for
miles, and it is louder and more piercing than that of any other
animals, yet it is all produced by a single male howler, sitting on the
branches of some lofty tree. They are enabled to make this extraordinary
noise by means of an organ that is possessed by no other animal. The
lower jaw is unusually deep, and this makes room for a hollow bony
vessel about the size of a large walnut, situated under the root of the
tongue, and having an opening into the windpipe by which the animal
can force air into it. This increases the power of its voice, acting
something like the hollow case of a violin, and producing those
marvelous rolling and reverberating sounds which caused the celebrated
traveler Waterton to declare that they were such as might have had their
origin in the infernal regions. The howlers are large and stout bodied
monkeys, with bearded faces, and very strong and powerfully grasping
tails. They inhabit the wildest forests; they are very shy, and are
seldom taken captive, though they are less active than many other
American monkeys.

Next come the spider monkeys, so called from their slender bodies and
enormously long limbs and tail. In these monkeys the tail is so long,
strong, and perfect, that it completely takes the place of a fifth hand.
By twisting the end of it round a branch the animal can swing freely in
the air with complete safety; and this gives them a wonderful power of
climbing end passing from tree to tree, because the distance they can
stretch is that of the tail, body, and arm added together, and these are
all unusually long. They can also swing themselves through the air for
great distances, and are thus able to pass rapidly from tree to tree
without ever descending to the ground, just like the gibbons in the
Malayan forests. Although capable of feats of wonderful agility, the
spider monkeys are usually slow and deliberate in their motions, and
have a timid, melancholy expression, very different from that of most
monkeys. Their hands are very long, but have only four fingers, being
adapted for hanging on to branches rather than for getting hold of small
objects. It is said that when they have to cross a river the trees on
the opposite banks of which do not approach near enough for a leap,
several of them form a chain, one hanging by its tail from a lofty
overhanging branch and seizing hold of the tail of the one below it,
then gradually swinging themselves backward and forward till the lower
one is able to seize hold of a branch on the opposite side. He then
climbs up the tree, and, when sufficiently high, the first one lets go,
and the swing either carries him across to a bough on the opposite side
or he climbs up over his companions.

Closely allied to the last are the woolly monkeys, which have an equally
well developed prehensile tail, but better proportioned limbs, and a
thick woolly fur of a uniform gray or brownish color. They have well
formed fingers and thumbs, both on the hands and feet, and are rather
deliberate in their motions, and exceedingly tame and affectionate in
captivity. They are great eaters, and are usually very fat. They are
found only in the far interior of the Amazon valley, and, having a
delicate constitution, seldom live long in Europe. These monkeys are not
so fond of swinging themselves about by their tails as are the spider
monkeys, and offer more opportunities of observing how completely this
organ takes the place of a fifth hand. When walking about a house, or on
the deck of a ship, the partially curled tail is carried in a horizontal
position on the ground, and the moment it touches anything it twists
round it and brings it forward, when, if eatable, it is at once
appropriated; and when fastened up the animal will obtain any food that
may be out of reach of its hands with the greatest facility, picking up
small bits of biscuit, nuts, etc., much as an elephant does with the tip
of his trunk.

We now come to a group of monkeys whose prehensile tail is of a less
perfect character, since it is covered with hair to the tip, and is of
no use to pick up objects. It can, however, curl round a branch, and
serves to steady the animal while sitting or feeding, but is never used
to hang and swing by in the manner so common with the spider monkeys and
their allies. These are rather small-sized animals, with round heads and
with moderately long tails. They are very active and intelligent, their
limbs are not so long as in the preceding group, and though they have
five fingers on each hand and foot, the hands have weak and hardly
opposable thumbs. Some species of these monkeys are often carried about
by itinerant organ men, and are taught to walk erect and perform many
amusing tricks. They form the genus _Cebus_ of naturalists.

The remainder of the American monkeys have non-prehensile tails, like
those of the monkeys of the Eastern hemisphere; but they consist of
several distinct groups, and differ very much in appearance and habits.
First we have the Sakis, which have a bushy tail and usually very long
and thick hair, something like that of a bear. Sometimes the tail is
very short, appearing like a rounded tuft of hair; many of the species
have fine bushy whiskers, which meet under the chin, and appear as if
they had been dressed and trimmed by a barber, and the head is often
covered with thick curly hair, looking like a wig. Others, again, have
the face quite red, and one has the head nearly bald, a most remarkable
peculiarity among monkeys. This latter species was met with by Mr. Bates
on the Upper Amazon, and he describes the face as being of a vivid
scarlet, the body clothed from neck to tail with very long, straight,
and shining white hair, while the head was nearly bald, owing to the
very short crop of thin gray hairs. As a finish to their striking
physiognomy these monkeys have bushy whiskers of a sandy color meeting
under the chin, and yellowish gray eyes. The color of the face is so
vivid that it looks as if covered with a thick coat of bright scarlet
paint. These creatures are very delicate, and have never reached Europe
alive, although several of the allied forms have lived some time in our
Zoological Gardens.

An allied group consists of the elegant squirrel monkeys, with long,
straight, hairy tails, and often adorned with pretty variegated colors.
They are usually small animals; some have the face marked with black and
white, others have curious whiskers, and their nails are rather sharp
and claw like. They have large round heads, and their fur is more glossy
and smooth than in most other American monkeys, so that they more
resemble some of the smaller monkeys of Africa. These little creatures
are very active, running about the trees like squirrels, and feeding
largely on insects as well as on fruit.

Closely allied to these are the small group of night monkeys, which have
large eyes, and a round face surrounded by a kind of ruff of whitish
fur, so as to give it an owl like appearance, whence they are sometimes
called owl-faced monkeys. They are covered with soft gray fur, like that
of a rabbit, and sleep all day long concealed in hollow trees. The
face is also marked with white patches and stripes, giving it a rather
carnivorous or cat like aspect, which, perhaps, serves as a protection,
by causing the defenseless creature to be taken for an arboreal tiger
cat or some such beast of prey.

This finishes the series of such of the American monkeys as have a
larger number of teeth than those of the Old World. But there is another
group, the Marmosets, which have the same number of teeth as Eastern
monkeys, but differently distributed in the jaws, a premolar being
substituted for a molar tooth. In other particulars they resemble the
rest of the American monkeys. They are very small and delicate creatures
some having the body only seven inches long. The thumb of the hands
is[1] not opposable, and instead of nails they have sharp compressed
claws. These diminutive monkeys have long, non-prehensile tails, and
they have a silky fur often of varied and beautiful colors. Some are
striped with gray and white, or are of rich brown or golden brown tints,
varied by having the head or shoulders white or black, while in many
there are crests, frills, manes, or long ear tufts, adding greatly to
their variety and beauty. These little animals are timid and restless;
their motions are more like those of a squirrel than a monkey. Their
sharp claws enable them to run quickly along the branches, but they
seldom leap from bough to bough like the larger monkeys. They live on
fruits and insects, but are much afraid of wasps, which they are said to
recognize even in a picture.

[Transcribers note 1: Changed from '... it not opposable', ...]

This completes our sketch of the American monkeys, and we see that,
although they possess no such remarkable forms as the gorilla or the
baboons, yet they exhibit a wonderful diversity of external characters,
considering that all seem equally adapted to a purely arboreal life.
In the howlers we have a specially developed voice organ, which is
altogether peculiar; in the spider monkeys we find the adaptation to
active motion among the topmost branches of the forest trees carried to
an extreme point of development; while the singular nocturnal monkeys,
the active squirrel monkeys, and the exquisite little marmosets, show
how distinct are the forms under which the same general type, may be
exhibited, and in how many varied ways existence may be sustained under
almost identical conditions.

LEMURS.

In the general term, monkeys, considered as equivalent to the order
Primates, or the Quadrumana of naturalists, we have to include another
sub-type, that of the Lemurs. These animals are of a lower grade than
the true monkeys, from which they differ in so many points of structure
that they are considered to form a distinct sub-order, or, by some
naturalists, even a separate order. They have usually a much larger head
and more pointed muzzle than monkeys; they vary considerably in the
number, form, and arrangement of the teeth; their thumbs are always well
developed, but their fingers vary much in size and length; their tails
are usually long, but several species have no tail whatever, and they
are clothed with a more or less woolly fur, often prettily variegated
with white and black. They inhabit the deep forests of Africa,
Madagascar, and Southern Asia, and are more sluggish in their movements
than true monkeys, most of them being of nocturnal and crepuscular
habits. They feed largely on insects, eating also fruits and the eggs or
young of birds.

The most curious species are--the slow lemurs of South India, small
tailless nocturnal animals, somewhat resembling sloths in appearance,
and almost as deliberate in their movements, except when in the act of
seizing their insect prey; the Tarsier, or specter lemur, of the Malay
islands, a small, long tailed nocturnal lemur, remarkable for the
curious development of the hind feet, which have two of the toes very
short, and with sharp claws, while the others have nails, the third toe
being exceedingly long and slender, though the thumb is very large,
giving the feet a very irregular and _outre_ appearance; and, lastly,
the Aye-aye, of Madagascar, the most remarkable of all. This animal has
very large ears and a squirrel like tail, with long spreading hair.
It has large curved incisor teeth, which add to its squirrel like
appearance, and caused the early naturalists to class it among the
rodents. But its most remarkable character is found in its fore feet
or hands, the fingers of which are all very long and armed with sharp
curved claws, but one of them, the second, is wonderfully slender,
being not half the thickness of the others. This curious combination of
characters shows that the aye-aye is a very specialized form--that is,
one whose organization has been slowly modified to fit it for a peculiar
mode of life. From information received from its native country, and
from a profound study of its organization, Professor Owen believes
that it is adapted for the one purpose of feeding on small wood-boring
insects. Its large feet and sharp claws enable it to cling firmly to the
branches of trees in almost any position; by means of its large delicate
ears it listens for the sound of the insect gnawing within the branch,
and is thus able to fix its exact position; with its powerful curved
gnawing teeth it rapidly cuts away the bark and wood till it exposes the
burrow of the insect, most probably the soft larva of some beetle, and
then comes into play the extraordinary long wire-like finger, which
enters the small cylindrical burrow, and with the sharp bent claw hooks
out the grub. Here we have a most complex adaptation of different parts
and organs, all converging to one special end, that end being the same
as is reached by a group of birds, the woodpeckers, in a different way;
and it is a most interesting fact that, although woodpeckers abound in
all the great continents, and are especially common in the tropical
forests of Asia, Africa, and America, they are quite absent from
Madagascar. We may, therefore, consider that the aye-aye really occupies
the same place in nature in the forests of this tropical island, as do
the woodpeckers in other parts of the world.

DISTRIBUTION, AFFINITIES, AND ZOOLOGICAL RANK OF MONKEYS.

Having thus sketched an outline of the monkey tribe as regards their
more prominent external characters and habits, we must say a few words
on their general relations as a distinct order of mammalia. No other
group so extensive and so varied as this, is so exclusively tropical in
its distribution, a circumstance no doubt due to the fact that monkeys
depend so largely on fruit and insects for their subsistence. A very
few species extend into the warmer parts of the temperate zones, their
extreme limits in the northern hemisphere being Gibraltar, the Western
Himalayas at 11,000 feet elevation, East Thibet, and Japan. In America
they are found in Mexico, but do not appear to pass beyond the tropic.
In the Southern hemisphere they are limited by the extent of the forests
in South Brazil, which reach about 30 deg. south latitude. In the East,
owing to their entire absence from Australia, they do not reach the
tropic; but in Africa, some baboons range to the southern extremity of
the continent.

But this extreme restriction of the order to almost tropical lands is
only recent. Directly we go back to the Pliocene period of geology,
we find the remains of monkeys in France, and even in England. In the
earlier Miocene, several kinds, some of large size, lived in France,
Germany, and Greece, all more or less closely allied to living forms of
Asia and Africa. About the same period monkeys of the South American
type inhabited the United States. In the remote Eocene period the same
temperate lands were inhabited by lemurs in the East, and by curious
animals believed to be intermediate between lemurs and marmosets in the
West. We know from a variety of other evidence that throughout these
vast periods a mild and almost sub-tropical climate extended over all
Central Europe and parts of North America, while one of a temperate
character prevailed as far north as the Arctic circle. The monkey tribe
then enjoyed a far greater range over the earth, and perhaps filled a
more important place in nature than it does now. Its restriction to the
comparatively narrow limits of the tropics is no doubt mainly due to the
great alteration of climate which occurred at the close of the Tertiary
period, but it may have been aided by the continuous development of
varied forms of mammalian life better fitted for the contrasted seasons
and deciduous vegetation of the north temperate regions. The more
extensive area formerly inhabited by the monkey tribe, would have
favored their development into a number of divergent forms, in distant
regions, and adapted to distinct modes of life. As these retreated
southward and became concentrated in a more limited area, such as were
able to maintain themselves became mingled together as we now find them,
the ancient and lowly marmosets and lemurs subsisting side by side with
the more recent and more highly developed howlers and anthropoid apes.

Throughout the long ages of the Tertiary period monkeys must have been
very abundant and very varied, yet it is but rarely that their fossil
remains are found. This, however, is not difficult to explain. The
deposits in which mammalian remains most abound are those formed in
lakes or in caverns. In the former the bodies of large numbers of
terrestrial animals were annually deposited, owing to their having been
caught by floods in the tributary streams, swallowed up in marginal bogs
or quicksands, or drowned by the giving way of ice. Caverns were the
haunts of hyenas, tigers, bears, and other beasts of prey, which dragged
into them the bodies of their victims, and left many of their bones to
become embedded in stalagmite or in the muddy deposit left by floods,
while herbivorous animals were often carried into them by these floods,
or by falling down the swallow-holes which often open into caverns from
above. But, owing to their arboreal habits, monkeys were to a great
extent freed from all these dangers. Whether devoured by beasts or birds
of prey, or dying a natural death, their bones would usually be left on
dry land, where they would slowly decay under atmospheric influences.
Only under very exceptional circumstances would they become embedded
in aqueous deposits; and instead of being surprised at their rarity
we should rather wonder that so many have been discovered in a fossil
state.

Monkeys, as a whole, form a very isolated group, having no near
relations to any other mammalia. This is undoubtedly an indication of
great antiquity. The peculiar type which has since reached so high a
development must have branched off the great mammalian stock at a very
remote epoch, certainly far back in the Secondary period, since in the
Eocene we find lemurs and lemurine monkeys already specialized. At this
remoter period they were probably not separable from the insectivora,
or (perhaps) from the ancestral marsupials. Even now we have one living
form, the curious Galeopithecus or flying lemur, which has only recently
been separated from the lemurs, with which it was formerly united, to be
classed as one of the insectivora; and it is only among the Opossums and
some other marsupials that we again find hand-like feet with opposable
thumbs, which are such a curious and constant feature of the monkey
tribe.

This relationship to the lowest of the mammalian tribes seems
inconsistent with the place usually accorded to these animals at the
head of the entire mammalian series, and opens up the question whether
this is a real superiority or whether it depends merely on the obvious
relationship to ourselves. If we could suppose a being gifted with
high intelligence, but with a form totally unlike that of man, to have
visited the earth before man existed in order to study the various forms
of animal life that were found there, we can hardly think he would have
placed the monkey tribe so high as we do. He would observe that their
whole organization was specially adapted to an arboreal life, and this
specialization would be rather against their claiming the first rank
among terrestrial creatures. Neither in size, nor strength, nor beauty,
would they compare with many other forms, while in intelligence they
would not surpass, even if they equaled, the horse or the beaver. The
carnivora, as a whole, would certainly be held to surpass them in the
exquisite perfection of their physical structure, while the flexible
trunk of the elephant, combined with his vast strength and admirable
sagacity, would probably gain for him the first rank in the animal
creation.

But if this would have been a true estimate, the mere fact that the ape
is our nearest relation does not necessarily oblige us to come to any
other conclusion. Man is undoubtedly the most perfect of all animals,
but he is so solely in respect of characters in which he differs from
all the monkey tribe--the easily erect posture, the perfect freedom
of the hands from all part in locomotion, the large size and complete
opposability of the thumb, and the well developed brain, which enables
him fully to utilize these combined physical advantages. The monkeys
have none of these; and without them the amount of resemblance they have
to us is no advantage, and confers no rank. We are biased by the too
exclusive consideration of the man-like apes. If these did not exist
the remaining monkeys could not be thereby deteriorated as to their
organization or lowered in their zoological position, but it is doubtful
if we should then class them so high as we now do. We might then dwell
more on their resemblances to lower types--to rodents, to insectivora,
and to marsupials, and should hardly rank the hideous baboon above the
graceful leopard or stately stag. The true conclusion appears to be,
that the combination of external characters and internal structure which
exists in the monkeys, is that which, when greatly improved, refined,
and beautified, was best calculated to become the perfect instrument
of the human intellect and to aid in the development of man's higher
nature; while, on the other hand, in the rude, inharmonious, and
undeveloped state which it has reached in the quadrumana, it is by no
means worthy of the highest place, or can be held to exhibit the most
perfect development of existing animal life.--_Contemporary Review_.

* * * * *

[JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.]

SILK-PRODUCING BOMBYCES AND OTHER LEPIDOPTERA REARED IN 1881.

By ALFRED WAILLY, Membre Laureat de la Societe d'Acclimatation de
France.

By referring to my reports for the years 1879 and 1880, which appeared
in the _Journal of the Society of Arts_, February 13 and March 5, 1880,
February 25 and March 4, 1881, it will be seen that the bad weather
prevented the successful rearing in the open air of most species of
silk-producing larvae. In 1881, the weather was extremely favorable up
to the end of July, but the incessant and heavy rains of the month of
August and beginning of September, proved fatal to most of the larvae
when they were in their last stages. However, in spite of my many
difficulties, I had the satisfaction of seeing them to their last
stage. Larvae of all the silk-producing bombyces were preserved in their
different stages, and can be seen in the Bethnal-green Museum. In July,
when the weather was magnificent, the little trees in my garden were
literally covered with larvae of more species than I ever had before, and
two or three more weeks of fair weather would have given me a good crop
of cocoons, instead of which I only obtained a very small number. The
sparrows, as usual, also destroyed a quantity of worms, in spite of wire
or fish-netting placed over some of the trees.

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