Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 4

DESCRIPTION.--Chiefly distinguished from the others by wanting the head tuft; uniform dusky grey, darker on crown and fore-limbs; slaty brown on wrists and hands; hair on toes whitish; whiskers and beard largely developed and conspicuously white.

The name was given by Blyth to a single specimen forwarded by Dr.

Templeton, and it was for a time doubtful whether it was really a native, till Dr. Kellaart procured a second. Dr. Templeton's specimen was partial to fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit, but he ate freely boiled rice, beans, and gram. He was fond of being noticed and petted, stretching out his limbs in succession to be scratched, drawing himself up so that his ribs might be reached by the finger, closing his eyes during the operation, and evincing his satisfaction by grimaces irresistibly ludicrous.--_Emerson Tennent_.

Dr. Anderson considers this monkey as identical with _Semnopithecus priamus_, but Kellaart, as I have before stated, is very positive on the point of difference, calling _S. priamus_ emphatically the crested monkey, and alleging that _thersites_ has no crest, and it is probable he had opportunities of observing the two animals in life; he says he had a young specimen of _priamus_, which distinctly showed the crest, and a young _thersites_ of the same age which showed no sign of it.

In Emerson Tennent's 'Natural History of Ceylon,' (1861) page 5, there is a plate of a group in which are included _priamus_ and _thersites_; in the original they are wrongly numbered--the former should be 2 and not 3, and the latter 3 and not 2. If these be correct (and Wolf's name should be a voucher for their being so) there is a decided difference. There is no crest in the latter, and the white whiskers terminate abruptly on a level with the eyebrow, and the superciliary ridge of hair is wanting.

NO. 16. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES ALBINUS (_Kellaart_).

_The White Langur_.

HABITAT.--Ceylon, in the hills beyond Matelle.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur dense, sinuous, nearly of uniform white colour, with only a slight dash of grey on the head; face and ears black; palm, soles, fingers and toes flesh-coloured; limbs and body the shape of _P. ursinus_; long white hairs prolonged over the toes and claws, giving the appearance of a white spaniel dog to this monkey; irides brown; whiskers white, full, and pointed laterally.--_Kellaart_.

The above description was taken by Dr. Kellaart from a living specimen. He considered it to be a distinct species, and not an Albino, from the black face and ears and brown eyes.

The Kandyans a.s.sured him that they were to be seen (rarely however) in small parties of three and four over the hills beyond Matelle, but never in company with the dark kind.

Emerson Tennent also mentions one that was brought to him taken between Ambepa.s.se and Kornegalle, where they were said to be numerous; except in colour it had all the characteristics of _P.

cephalopterus_. So striking was its whiteness that it might have been conjectured to be an Albino, but for the circ.u.mstance that its eyes and face were black. An old writer of the seventeenth century, Knox, says of the monkeys of Ceylon (where he was captive for some time) that there are some "milk-white in body and face, but of this sort there is not such plenty."--_Tennent's 'Natural History of Ceylon,'

page 8_.

NOTE.--Since the above was in type I have found in the List of Animals in the Zoological Society's Gardens, a species entered as _Semnopithecus leucoprymnus_, the Purple-faced Monkey from Ceylon--see P.Z.S.

PAPIONINAE.

This sub-family comprises the true baboons of Africa and the monkey-like baboons of India. They have the stomach simple, and cheek-pouches are always present. According to Cuvier they possess, like the last family, a fifth tubercle on their last molars. They produce early, but are not completely adult for four or five years; the period of gestation is seven months.

The third sub-family of _Simiadae_ consists of the genera _Cercopithicus_, _Macacus_, and _Cynocephalus_, as generally accepted by modern zoologists, but Jerdon seems to have followed Ogilby in his cla.s.sification, which merges the long-tailed Macaques into _Cercopithecus_, and subst.i.tuting _Papio_ for the others.

_GENUS INUUS_.

Cuvier applies this term to the Magots or rudimentary-tailed Macaques. The monkeys of this genus are more compactly built than those of the last. They are also less herbivorous in their diet, eating frogs, lizards, crabs and insects, as well as vegetables and fruit. Their callosities and cheek-pouches are large, and they have a sac which communicates with the larynx under the thyroid cartilage, which fills with air when they cry out.

Some naturalists of the day, however, place all under the generic name Macacus.

NO. 17. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS SILENUS.

_The Lion Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 6_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Nil bandar_, Bengali; _s.h.i.+a bandar_, Hindi; _Nella manthi_, Malabari.

HABITAT.--The Western Ghats of India from North Lat. 14 degrees to the extreme south, but most abundant in Cochin and Travancore (_Jerdon_), also Ceylon (_Cuvier_ and _Horsfield_), though not confirmed by Emerson Tennent, who states that the _silenus_ is not found in the island except as introduced by Arab horse-dealers occasionally, and that it certainly is not indigenous. Blyth was also a.s.sured by Dr. Templeton of Colombo that the only specimens there were imported.

[Figure: _Macacus silenus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Black, with a reddish-white hood or beard surrounding the face and neck; tail with a tuft of whitish hair at the tip; a little greyish on the chest.

SIZE.--About 24 inches; tail, 10 inches.

There is a plate of this monkey in Carpenter and Westwood's edition of Cuvier, under the mistaken name of _Wanderoo_.

It is somewhat sulky and savage, and is difficult to get near in a wild state. Jerdon states that he met with it only in dense unfrequented forest, and sometimes at a considerable elevation. It occurs in troops of from twelve to twenty.

NO. 18. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS RHESUS.

_The Bengal Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 7_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Bandar_, Hindi; _Markot_, Bengali; _Suhu_, Lepcha, _Piyu_, Bhotia.

HABITAT.--India generally from the North to about Lat. 18 degrees or 19 degrees; but not in the South, where it is replaced by _Macacus radiatus_.

[Figure: _Macacus rhesus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Above brownish ochrey or rufous; limbs and beneath ashy-brown; callosities and adjacent parts red; face of adult males red.

SIZE.--Twenty-two inches; tail 11 inches.

This monkey is too well-known to need description. It is the common acting monkey of the _bandar-wallas_, the delight of all Anglo-Indian children, who go into raptures over the romance of _Munsur-ram_ and _Chameli_, their quarrels, parting, and reconciliation, so admirably acted by these miniature comedians.

NOTE.--For _Macacus rheso-similis_, Sclater, see P.Z.S. 1872, p. 495, pl. xxv., also P.Z.S. 1875, p. 418.

NO. 19. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS PELOPS.

_Syn_.--MACACUS a.s.sAMENSIS.

_The Hill Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 8_).

HABITAT.--The Himalayan ranges and a.s.sam.

DESCRIPTION.--Brownish grey, somewhat mixed with slaty, and rusty brownish on the shoulders in some; beneath light ashy brown; fur fuller and more wavy than in _rhesus_; canine teeth long; of stout habit; callosities and face less red than in the last species (_Jerdon_). Face flesh-coloured, but interspersed with a few black hairs (_McClelland_).

NO. 20. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS NEMESTRINUS.

_The Pig-tailed Monkey_.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim and the Malay Archipelago.

[Figure: _Macacus nemestrinus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--General colour grizzled brown; the piles annulated with dusky and fulvous; crown darker, and the middle of the back also darker; the hair lengthened on the fore-quarters; the back stripe extends along the tail, becoming almost black; the tail terminates in a bright ferruginous tuft. This monkey is noted for its docility, and in Bencoolen is trained to be useful as well as amusing. According to Sir Stamford Raffles it is taught to climb the cocoa palms for the fruit for its master, and to select only those that are ripe.

NO. 21. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS LEONINUS.

_The Long-haired Pig-tailed Monkey_.