Fig. 270.—Black Celebesian Ape. Cynopithecus niger. × 1⁄5.
The first with which we shall deal is Colobus, containing the Monkeys known as Guerezas. These creatures are entirely confined to the African continent, and they are arboreal in habit. It has been attempted to show that their affinities are more with the Platyrrhines than with the group in which they are really to be placed. In favour of regarding them as nearer akin to the American monkeys are only two facts of importance: the first is the practical absence of the thumb, which of course recalls the condition characteristic of Ateles; in the second place, the nostrils in their wideness somewhat resemble those of the Platyrrhines. They are slender Monkeys with well-marked callosities. They have a complex sacculated stomach, resembling the large intestine of some other animals; it is not divided into distinct chambers like the stomach of a Ruminant or of a Whale. Correlated apparently with this large stomach is the small development of the cheek pouches. This genus, of which there are about ten species, is characterised by beautiful skins, which are largely collected. The Arabs have a legend to the effect that one species, when wounded, and seeing its capture and the removal of its skin
