Chapter XXIII: Sykes' Guenon. Cercopithecus Albigularis

_Semnopithecus albogularis_, Sykes, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 106.

_Cercopithecus albigularis_, Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 18; Owen, P. Z.
S., 1832, p. 18 (anatomy); Martin, Mamm. An., p. 512 (1841); Frazer,
Zool. Typ., pl. ii. (1848); Wagner in Schreb. Säugeth. Suppl., v., p. 45
(1855); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 24 (1870); Schleg., Mus.
Pays-Bas, vii., p. 79 (1876); True. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., xv., p. 448
(1893); Sclater, P. Z. S., 1893, p. 251; Matschie, S.B., Nat. Fr. Berl.,
1893, p. 215; Thomas, P. Z. S., 1894, p. 137.

_Cercopithecus erythrarchus_, Peters, Reis. Mossamb. Säugeth., p. 1, pl.
i.; Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 77 (1876); Kirk, P. Z. S., 1864, p.
649; Reuvens, Zool. Gart., xxx., p. 207 (1889); Oudem, _op. cit._, xxxi.,
p. 267 (1890); Scl., P. Z. S., 1893, p. 249 (female).

_? Cercopithecus monoides_, Geoffr., Arch. du Mus., ii., p. 558, pl. 31
(1841); id., C. R., xv., p. 1038 (1842); id., Dict. Hist. Nat., iii., p.
303 (1849); Scl., P. Z. S., 1893, p. 256.

{68}CHARACTERS.--MALE.--Head rounded, short; ears small, rounded, and nearly concealed in the long fur of the head; eyes deep-set; superciliary hairs long; whiskers thick and bushy; no beard; facial angle large; cheek-pouches small but distinct, not observable even when filled, being concealed by the bushy whiskers; thumbs short; great-toes long; very small callosities; tail half as long as the body. Larynx with the usual two wide lateral sacs and a middle pouch extending forward about three inches under the skin of the neck, communicating with the larynx by a large opening.

Entire upper surface black, mixed with yellow,--the hairs being black, ringed with brownish-yellow bars. Face, cheeks, and lips black; shoulders, fore-limbs and hind-limbs (washed with yellowish), black, from the absence of the yellow bars, which predominate on the back and sides; under side of the body black, speckled with white; chin and throat white; no white thigh patches; tail, black.

FEMALE.--Differs from the male in being smaller, and in having the rump, the upper and lower sides of the base of the tail, the region round the anus, and the posterior aspect of the upper part of the thighs and arms strongly tinged with reddish-brown. The lower side of the body and inner sides of the limbs whitish--the hairs towards their extremities being ringed with black and greyish-yellow. It has been described as _Cercopithecus erythrarchus_ of Peters and other writers.

DISTRIBUTION.--West Africa: Gold Coast (_Pel_); also said to have been obtained on the Congo. East Africa: Mozambique; believed to abound about Cape Corrientes (_Peters_). Quilimane and the Lower Zambesi are further given as habitats both by Dr. Peters and Sir J. Kirk. Mr. H. H. Johnston, H.M. Commissioner in Nyasa Land, has sent it from the Milanji Plateau, where it ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the sea. This species was at one time supposed, but quite erroneously, to come from Madagascar.

PLATE XXIX.

{69}HABITS.--This Monkey is very frequently brought alive to Europe, and almost all that we know of its habits has been obtained from observing it in captivity. Colonel Sykes, who first brought this species to England and described it, says that "its manners in captivity are grave and sedate. Its disposition is gentle, but not affectionate; and though free from that capricious petulance and mischievous irascibility characteristic of so many of the African species, still it quickly resents irritating treatment, and evinces its resentment by very smart blows with its anterior hands. It never bit any person on board ship, but so seriously lacerated three Monkeys, its fellow passengers, that two of them died from the wounds. It readily ate meat, and would choose to pick a bone even when plentifully supplied with vegetables and dried fruits." Another individual, seen by Mr. Ogilby, exhibited the same antipathy to other Monkeys.