[Footnote V: This is a precarious name which we have given to this
animal, until we know what it is called in its native country. As it is
found at Madagascar in the vicinity of _Mangabey_, this name will make
it familiar to travellers, who will thus be led to observe it with more
precision.]
We have seen two individuals of this species, both of which were
sent to us by the denomination of _Madagascar apes_. They are easily
distinguished from all other monkeys by a very apparent character. The
mangabey (_fig. 206._) has its eyelids naked, and of a very striking
whiteness. Their muzzle also is large, thick, and long; and they
have a ring round their eyes. Those we are speaking of varied also in
colour, the hair of one being of a blackish brown on the head, neck,
and upper parts of the body, and white on the belly; and in the other
it was much lighter over all the body, with a collar of white hair
round the neck and cheeks. Both carry their tails turned backwards, the
hair of which is long and bushy. They are natives of the same country
as the vari, and as they resemble that animal in the length of the
muzzle and tail, in the manner of carrying it, and in the varieties of
colour; they seem to fill up the chasm betwixt the makis and guenons,
or long-tailed monkeys.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The mangabey has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities
on his posteriors. His tail is as long as the head and body: he has
a prominent ring of hair over his eyes, and his upper eyelids are
particularly white. His muzzle is thick and long; his eyebrows are
rough and bristly: his ears black, and almost naked. The hair of the
upper parts of his body is brown, and those below are grey. There are
varieties in this species, some being of an uniform colour, and others
having a circle of white hair round the neck and the cheeks in the
form of a beard. They walk on four feet, and are nearly a foot and a
half long, from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail. The
females are subject to the periodical emanation.