Toque roots are sometimes traced to the "casque à meche" (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of the "casque à meche" denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons. The modern toque is popularly believed to have originated with the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who stiffened the "casque à meche" with cardboard . The pleated, low, round hat worn in French universities the equivalent of the mortarboard or tam at British and American universities is also called a toque.
Toque macaque are also found in south-western parts of the island including Galle, and Matara districts, near to Kalu Ganga. "M. s. opisthomelas" is recently identified as a separate subspecies. It can be found in the entire south-western region of central hill, (bordered with Ratnapura) and Nuwara Eliya districts. They can be seen around the Hakgala Botanical Garden and other cold climatic montane forest patches. The three recognized subspecies of toque macaques are: "M. s. opisthomelas" is similar to subsp. "aurifrons", but has a long fur and contrasting golden color in the anterior part of its brown cap. The three subspecies can