Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 5

HABITAT.--Arracan.

DESCRIPTION.--A thick-set powerful animal, with a broad, rather flattened head above, and a moderately short, well clad, up-turned tail, about one-third the length of the body and head; the female smaller.--_Anderson_.

Face fleshy brown; whitish round the eyes and on the forehead; eyebrows brownish, a narrow reddish line running out from the external angle of the eye. The upper surface of the head is densely covered with short dark fur, yellowish brown, broadly tipped with black; the hair radiating from the vertex; on and around the ear the hair is pale grey; above the external orbital angle and on the sides of the face the hair is dense and directed backwards, pale greyish, obscurely annulated with dusky brown, and this is prolonged downwards to the middle of the throat. On the shoulders, back of the neck, and upper part of the thighs, the hairs are very long, fully three inches in the first-mentioned localities; the basal halves greyish; and the remainder ringed with eleven bands of dark brown and orange; the tips being dark. The middle and small of the back is almost black, the shorter hair there being wholly dark; and this colour is prolonged on the tail, which is tufted. The hair on the chest is annulated, but paler than on the shoulders, and it is especially dense on the lower part. The lower halves of the limbs are also well clad with annulated fur, like their outsides, but their upper halves internally and the belly are only spa.r.s.ely covered with long brownish grey plain hairs, not ringed.

The female differs from the male in the absence of the black on the head and back, and in the hair of the under parts being brownish grey, without annulations. The shoulders somewhat brighter than the rest of the fur, which is yellowish olive; greyish olive on outside of limbs; dusky on upper surface of hands and feet; and black on upper surface of tail.

SIZE.--Length of male, head and body 23 inches; tail, without hair, 8 inches; with hair 10 inches.

The above description is taken from Dr. Anderson's account, 'Anat.

and Zool. Res.,' where at page 54 will be found a plate of the skull showing the powerful canine teeth. Blyth mentions a fine male with hair on the shoulders four to five inches long.

NO. 22. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS ARCTOIDES.

_The Brown Stump-tailed Monkey_.

HABITAT.--Cachar, Kakhyen Hills, east of Bhamo.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper surface of head and along the back dark brown, almost blackish; sides and limbs dark brown; the hair, which is very long, is ringed with light yellowish and dark brown, darker still at the tips; face red; tail short and stumpy, little over an inch long.

This monkey is one over which many naturalists have argued; it is synonymous with _Macacus speciosus_, _M. maurus_, _M. melanotus_, and was thought to be with _M. brunneus_ till Dr. Anderson placed the latter in a separate species on account of the non-annulation of its hair. It is essentially a denizen of the hills; it has been obtained in Cachar and in Upper a.s.sam. Dr. Anderson got it in the Kakhyen Hills on the frontier of Yunnan, beyond which, he says, it spreads to the southeast to Cochin-China.

NO. 23. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS THIBETa.n.u.s.

_The Thibetan Stump-tailed Monkey_.

DESCRIPTION.--Head large and whiskered; form robust; tail stumpy and clad; general colour of the animal brown; whiskers greyish; face nude and flesh-coloured, with a deep crimson flush round the eyes.

SIZE.--Two feet 9 inches; tail about 3 inches.

This large monkey, though not belonging to British India, inhabiting, it is said, "the coldest and least accessible forests of Eastern Thibet," is mentioned here, as the exploration of that country by travellers from India is attracting attention.

_GENUS MACACUS_.

Tail longer than in _Inuus_, and face not so lengthened; otherwise as in that genus.--_Jerdon_.

NO. 24. MACACUS RADIATUS.

_The Madras Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 9_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Bandar_, Hindi; _Makadu_ or _Wanur_, Mahratti; _Kerda mahr_ of the Ghats; _Munga_, Canarese; _Koti_, Telegu; _Vella munthi_, Malabar.

HABITAT.--All over the southern parts of India, as far north as lat.

18 degrees.

[Figure: _Macacus radiatus_ and _Macacus pileatus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Of a dusky olive brown, paler and whitish underneath, ashy on outer sides of limbs; tail dusky brown above, whitish beneath; hairs on the crown of the head radiated.

SIZE.--Twenty inches; tail 15 inches.

Elliott remarks of this monkey that it inhabits not only the wildest jungles, but the most populous towns, and it is noted for its audacity in stealing fruit and grain from shops. Jerdon says: "It is the monkey most commonly found in menageries, and led about to show various tricks and feats of agility. It is certainly the most inquisitive and mischievous of its tribe, and its powers of mimicry are surpa.s.sed by none." It may be taught to turn a wheel regularly; it smokes tobacco without inconvenience.--_Horsfield_.

NO. 25. MACACUS PILEATUS (_vel_ SINICUS, _Lin_.).

_The Capped Monkey_, or _Bonneted Macaque_ of _Cuvier_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Rilawa_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--Ceylon and China.

DESCRIPTION.--Yellowish brown, with a slight shade of green in old specimens; in some the back is light chestnut brown; yellowish brown hairs on the crown of the head, radiating from the centre to the circ.u.mference; face flesh-coloured and beardless; ears, palms, soles, fingers, and toes blackish; irides reddish brown; callosities flesh-coloured; tail longish, terminating in short tuft.--_Kellaart_.

SIZE.--Head and body about 20 inches; tail 18 inches.

This is the _Macacus sinicus_ of Cuvier, and is very similar to the last species. In Ceylon it takes the place of our rhesus monkey with the conjurors, who, according to Sir Emerson Tennent, "teach it to dance, and in their wanderings carry it from village to village, clad in a grotesque dress, to exhibit its lively performances." It also, like the last, smokes tobacco; and one that belonged to the captain of a tug steamer, in which I once went down from Calcutta to the Sandheads, not only smoked, but chewed tobacco. Kellaart says of it: "This monkey is a lively, spirited animal, but easily tamed; particularly fond of making grimaces, with which it invariably welcomes its master and friends. It is truly astonis.h.i.+ng to see the large quant.i.ty of food it will cram down its cheek pouches for future mastication."

NO. 26. MACACUS CYNOMOLGUS.

_The Crab-eating Macaque_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Kra_, Malay.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim, Nicobars, Malay Archipelago.

[Figure: _Macacus cynomolgus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"The leading features of this animal are its ma.s.sive form, its large head closely set on the shoulders, its stout and rather short legs, its slender loins and heavy b.u.t.tocks, its tail thick at the base" (Anderson). The general colour is similar to that of the Bengal rhesus monkey, but the skin of the chest and belly is bluish, the face livid, with a white area between the eyes and white eyelids. Hands and feet blackish.

SIZE.--About that of the Bengal rhesus.

According to Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre "these monkeys frequent the banks of salt-water creeks and devour sh.e.l.l-fish. In the cheek-pouch of the female were found the claws and body of a crab.

There is not much on record concerning the habits of this monkey in its wild state beyond what is stated concerning its partiality for crabs, which can also, I believe, be said of the rhesus in the Bengal Sunderbunds."

NO. 27. MACACUS CARBONARIUS.

_The Black-faced Crab-eating Monkey_.

HABITAT.--Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--In all respects the same as the last, except that its face is blackish, with conspicuously white eyelids.

FAMILY LEMURIDAE.

The Indian members of this family belong to the sub-family named by Geoffroy _Nycticebinae_.