Copy 2

Animals in menageries / By William Swainson.

  • William Swainson
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animals in menageries / By William Swainson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/388 page 7
    DOG-TAILED BABOON. Vs Tue Vauurtine or Lesser Wuitr-nosep Monkey. Cercopithecus petaurista, Geoff., Zool. Gard. vi. 137. This very elegant little species is seldom seen in our menageries. Two, however, have been at different times in the possession of the Zoological Society, and have been thus deseribed. The Blanc Nez, or white- nosed monkey, is one of the smallest, and at the same time one of the most curiously marked, among its own tribe. It may always be recognised at the first glance by the white patch which occupies the extremity of its nose, and which occurs only in one other species, the C. nictitans, or white-nosed monkey of Pennant. In manners and disposition it is lively, active, and gene- rally good tempered: it was, however, by no,means familiar, and appeared to be particularly anxious to conceal its face; crying out and kicking with all its might, when handled for the purpose of inspection. It is a native of Guinea, and seems to be peculiarly sus- ceptible of cold ; seldom bearing, for any length of time, the rigour of a European climate. Tue Doe-raiLteD BABoon. Cercocebus cynosurus, Geoff: Malbrouec, Buffon, xiv. Dog- faced Baboon, Shaw, i. 32. Audub. Hist. 4. § 2. f. 5. Mal- brouck, Griff. Cuv. 1. 266. This animal, called by the French the Malbrouck, is sometimes seen in our menageries, although neither his appearance nor disposition place him in competition with the more elegant and docile species of this family. The length of the hinder limbs evinces the peculiar adaption of his structure for climbing and living among trees ; this disproportion of hands and feet, while it renders his progress upon the ground slow and awkward, is no impediment in climbing, but imparts, on the con- trary, a wonderful degree of agility in leaping from branch to branch, and from tree to tree. In a state of nature, these animals congregate in large troops, and live in the thick virgin forests of Tropical Asia. They are said to annoy the traveller both by the petulance of their
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