Part 3 (2/2)

HABITAT.--Mergui and the Malayan Peninsula.

DESCRIPTION.--Adults ashy or brownish black, darker on forehead, sides of face, shoulder, and sides of body; the hair on the nape is lengthened and whitish. The newly-born young are of a golden ferruginous colour, which afterward changes to dusky-ash colour, the terminal half of the tail being last to change; the mouth and eyelids are whitish, but the rest of the face black.

SIZE.--Body, 1 foot 9 inches; tail, 2 feet 8 inches.

This monkey is most common in the Malayan Peninsula, but has been found to extend to Mergui, where Blyth states it was procured by the late Major Berdmore. Dr. Anderson says it is not unfrequently offered for sale in the Singapore market.

NO. 13. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES CEPHALOPTERUS.

_The Ceylon Langur_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Kallu Wanderu_.

HABITAT.--The low lands of Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--General colour cinereous black; croup and inside of thighs whitish; head rufescent brown; hair on crown short, semi-erect; occipital hairs long, albescent; whiskers white, thick and long, terminating at the chin in a short beard, and laterally angularly pointed; upper lip thinly fringed with white hairs; superciliary hairs black, long, stiff and standing erect; tail albescent and terminating in a beard tuft; face, palms, soles, fingers, toes and callosities black; irides brown.--_Kellaart_.

SIZE.--Length, 20 inches; tail 24 inches.

Sir E. Tennent says of this monkey that it is never found at a higher elevation than 1,300 feet (when it is replaced by the next species).

”It is an active and intelligent creature, little larger than the common bonneted macaque, and far from being so mischievous as others of the monkeys in the island. In captivity it is remarkable for the gravity of its demeanour and for an air of melancholy in its expression and movements, which are completely in character with its snowy beard and venerable aspect. In disposition it is gentle and confiding, sensible in the highest degree of kindness, and eager for endearing attention, uttering a low plaintive cry when its sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when domesticated, and spends much of its time in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g its fur and carefully divesting its hair of particles of dust. Those which I kept at my house near Colombo were chiefly fed upon plantains and bananas, but for nothing did they evince a greater partiality than the rose-coloured flowers of the red hibiscus (_H. rosa sinensis_).

These they devoured with unequivocal gusto; they likewise relished the leaves of many other trees, and even the bark of a few of the more succulent ones.”

NO. 14. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES URSINUS.

_The Great Wanderu_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Maha Wanderu_.

HABITAT.--The mountainous district of Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur long, almost uniformly greyish black; whiskers full and white; occiput and croup in old specimens paler coloured; hands and feet blackish; tail long, getting lighter towards the lower half. The young and adults under middle age have a rufous tint, corresponding with that of the head of all ages.

SIZE.--Body about 22 inches; tail, 26 inches.

The name Wanderu is a corruption of the Singhalese generic word for monkey, _Ouandura_, or _Wandura_, which bears a striking resemblance to the Hindi _Bandra_, commonly called _Bandar_--_b_ and _v_ being interchangeable--and is evidently derived from the Sanscrit _Banur_, which in the south again becomes _Wanur_, and further south, in Ceylon, _Wandura_. There has been a certain amount of confusion between this animal and _Inuus silenus_, the lion monkey, which had the name _Wanderu_ applied to it by Buffon, and it is so figured in Cuvier. They are both large monkeys, with great beards of light coloured hair, but in no other respect do they resemble. Sir Emerson Tennent says: ”It is rarely seen by Europeans, this portion of the country having till very recently been but partially opened; and even now it is difficult to observe its habits, as it seldom approaches the few roads which wind through these deep solitudes. At early morning, ere the day begins to dawn, its loud and peculiar howl, which consists of quick repet.i.tion of the sound _how-how!_ may be frequently heard in the mountain jungles, and forms one of the characteristic noises of these lofty situations.” This was written in 1861; since then much of the mountainous forest land has been cleared for coffee-planting, and the Wanderu either driven into corners or become more familiarised with man. More therefore must be known of its habits by this time, and information regarding it is desirable.

NO. 15. SEMNOPITHECUS _vel_ PRESBYTES THERSITES.

NATIVE NAME.--_Ellee Wanderu_ (Kellaart).

HABITAT.--Ceylon.

[Figure: _Presbytes thersites_.]

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