Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-08-18
INVISIBLE MONKEYS.
A New Family Discovered In Africa Which
Can ScarceIy Be Seen.

Can Scarcely Be Seen.
DR.. J. w. Gregory, of the Natural
History Museum, of London, reports
the discovery of a family of African
monkeys that adds another curiosity
to the wonders of the zoos, provided
they are fortunate enough to obtain
specimens. These monkeys are found
in certain districts of East Africa, and
pass most of their time in the dense
forests clothing Mount Kilima MIRO
and other districts of that sections.
The black stemmed trees in which
they make their homes are thickly
draped with gray beard moss or lichen,
which reaches for several feet below
the boughs. As the monkeys hang
from the branches DR.. Gregory says
that they so closely resemble the
lichen that he found it impossible to
recognize them even when only short
distance away.
These monkeys are known to the
natives of certain districts of East
Africa by the name of guereza. They
belong to the group of thumbless apes
which are restricted to the African
continent, where they take the place
of the langurs, or sacred apes, of In
dia and other Oriental countries.
From the other thumbless apes the
guerezas, or the species to which that
name properly applies, are distin-
cuished by their long, silky, black and
white coats, which are much sought
after by the natives of Africa as arti-
cles of their scanty costume and for
purposes of decoration.
In the typical Abyssinian guereZa
the greater part Of the FUR of the body
and limbs is of deep, shining black,
but from the shoulders there depends
mantle of long, white, silky hair, ex-
tending down each side and meeting
on the lower part of the back, so as to
hang down over the sides of the body
as we'll as over the hips and thighs.
The terminal third OF the tail is also
clothed with long white hairs. Strik-
ingly handsome as is this species it is
excelled in this respect by the East
African guereza-the one met with by
DR.. Gregory-in which the base of the
tail alone is black, the whole Of the
remainder of that appendage being
developed into a magnificent white
brush, which may he compared to an
Indian chowri or fly whisk.
Black and white is type of colora-
tion so conspicuous and at the same
time so rare among the larger MAN.
mails, that whenever it occurs we may
be sure it is developed for some special
purpose, although, unless We have an
opportunity of seeing the animals in
their native haunts it is almost impos-
sible to divine what that purpose may
be.
1t is met with elsewhere in the ze-
bras and also in the remarkable parti-
colored bear of Thibet. Althoug h the
former animals are conspicuous enough
in stall at the Zoo, or when stuffed
in q museum, travellers tell lis that
when seen in the haze of an african
desert their black and white stripes
Aaue az d 'eiJ oAoi S.iS'"uN0 w az ia
most invisible gray This may even
be observed in hot summer when the
grass is burned brown in some of the
private English parks where several of
these beautiful animals are allowed to
roam at will during the sumner
months.
+ DR.. Gregory's observations have
fully solTed the problem OF the use Of
the remarkable coloration of the guer-
ezas, which has SO long puzzled the
brains of naturalists. Decisive evi-:
dence is apparent that the black and
white coloration of these animals pro-
tects them by close resemblance to
their inanimate surroundings. There
are, however, certain smaller animals
with a similar type of coloration in
which the startling contrast of black
and white seems to be for the purpose
of rendering them conspicuous, and as
some at least Of these creatures are
endowed with most disgusting odor,
their conspicuousness has been re-
garded as warning other animals from
attacking them. York Herald.