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Show 566 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE BREEDING [May 15, C o n d it io n a n d B e h a v io u r of th e Y oung a t an d a f t e r B ir t h . At birth, Monkeys of the genera Macacus and Oercopithccus are clothed with hair not differing materially in thickness, length, and distribution from that of their parents. In this respect they differ markedly from newly born Chimpanzees, which, as I am told by Dr. Steegmann, are nearly naked at birth. The smallest Chimpanzees that have come under my notice were thickly coated like the adults, with the exception of one young female, perhaps from twelve to eighteen months old, in which the head was bald, but became covered subsequently. Dr. Steegmann, on the contrary, lias had in his hands newly imported specimens, believed to be .about six months old, which were almost destitute of hair. Thus, in the nakedness of the young, Chimpanzees are more like Man than they are like Cercopithecine Monkeys. They show, indeed, the commencement of the postponement in the growth of the body-hair characteristic of Man, where, apart from its local development at puberty in both sexes, it only appears with any degree of luxuriance upon the appendages, ventral surface, and to a lesser degree upon the back in some, mostly middle-aged or old males *. In the young of the Japanese Macaque and in the hybrid M. rhesus x M. fascicular is the colour differs considerably from that of the adults of these species. The hairs are uniformly tinted throughout, being in the first-mentioned form olive-grey, and in the second blackish grey, without gloss and without any subapical pale area. As recorded by Dr. H. O. Forbes, this was previously known to be the case in the Japanese Macaque, as also was the absence of the red hue in the face. It was not, however, previously known, so far as I am aware, that the infant coat is moulted during the fifth month and gradually replaced by a coat resembling in colour that of the parents. The little Japanese Macaque was born 011 Jan. 10th, and the moulting which set in near the beginning of May was finished by the end of that month, with the exception of a dark tuft of hair on each cheek, which was unchanged by the end of September. Newly born Macaques differ extraordinarily in the matter of activity and independence from human babies, which remain practically helpless for at least a year. The Monkeys are able soon after birth to maintain a secure hold of their mother by clutching the hair of her sides with hands and feet, and within a week can crawl feebly about unaided. This was particularly noticeable in the case of the young Rhesus x Common Macaque, which 1 saw trying to creep over the straw of her cage when only four days old. hen between four and fivew^eeks old it could climb up the bars and about the perches of the cage with considerable activity and skill. The young Japanese Macaque appeared to be less pre* This remark applies particularly to the xanthochroic and melanochroic Europeans, and still more so to the Tcdas of Hindostan and to the Ainos of N. Japan. |