[Illustration: THE TALAPOIN.]
{83}_Miopithecus capillatus_, Geoffr., C. R., xv., p. 720 (1842.)
_Simia melarhinus_, Schinz, Synop. Mamm., i., p. 47 (1844).
CHARACTERS.--Small in size; head globular; muzzle very short; eyes large;
ears very expanded; nose but slightly protruding, with oblong nostrils
opening laterally, the septum thick; hands short, fingers united by a web.
Skull large; superciliary ridges and orbits also large; posterior molar in
both jaws small; those in the lower jaw only three-cusped (two cusps in
front, one behind); anterior and median lower molars four-cusped.
Naked skin round the eyes orange; upper lip yellow; whiskers directed
downward, bright straw-yellow; upper eyelids white; nose black; ears naked,
black; frontal hairs erect, forming a distinct curved crest. Fur speckled
olive-green--the hairs grey at the roots, olive-green in the middle and
black-tipped; fur darker on the body, paler and more washed with yellow on
the outer side of the body and upper side of the hands and feet. Under
surface of the body and the inside of the limbs white; tail ashy-grey.
Length of body, 13½ inches.
DISTRIBUTION.--West Africa: Gaboon.
HABITS.--Nothing is known of the habits of this rare species, which is the
smallest of the Guenons.