the more powerful. We have seen that certain male monkeys have a
well-developed beard, which is quite deficient, or much less developed
in the female. No instance is known of the beard, whiskers, or
moustache being larger in the female than in the male monkey. Even in
the colour of the beard there is a curious parallelism between man and
the Quadrumana, for with man when the beard differs in colour from the
hair of the head, as is commonly the case, it is, I believe, almost
always of a lighter tint, being often reddish. I have repeatedly
observed this fact in England; but two gentlemen have lately written to
me, saying that they form an exception to the rule. One of these
gentlemen accounts for the fact by the wide difference in colour of the
hair on the paternal and maternal sides of his family. Both had been
long aware of this peculiarity (one of them having often been accused
of dyeing his beard), and had been thus led to observe other men, and
were convinced that the exceptions were very rare. Dr. Hooker attended
to this little point for me in Russia, and found no exception to the
rule. In Calcutta, Mr. J. Scott, of the Botanic Gardens, was so kind as
to observe the many races of men to be seen there, as well as in some
other parts of India, namely, two races of Sikhim, the Bhoteas,
Hindoos, Burmese, and Chinese, most of which races have very little
hair on the face; and he always found that when there was any
difference in colour between the hair of the head and the beard, the
latter was invariably lighter. Now with monkeys, as has already been
stated, the beard frequently differs strikingly in colour from the hair
of the head, and in such cases it is always of a lighter hue, being
often pure white, sometimes yellow or reddish. (10. Mr. Blyth informs
me that he has only seen one instance of the beard, whiskers, etc., in
a monkey becoming white with old age, as is so commonly the case with
us. This, however, occurred in an aged Macacus cynomolgus, kept in
confinement whose moustaches were remarkably long and human-like.
Altogether this old monkey presented a ludicrous resemblance to one of
the reigning monarchs of Europe, after whom he was universally
nick-named. In certain races of man the hair on the head hardly ever
becomes grey; thus Mr. D. Forbes has never, as he informs me, seen an
instance with the Aymaras and Quichuas of South America.)
In regard to the general hairiness of the body, the women in all races
are less hairy than the men; and in some few Quadrumana the under side
of the body of the female is less hairy than that of the male. (11.
This is the case with the females of several species of Hylobates; see
581