_Semnopithecus_, F. Cuv., Hist. Nat. Mammif. (1821).
_Presbytis_, Eschsch. Kotzeb. Entdeck. Reis., iii., p. 196 (1821).
The members of this genus have thin and elongated bodies, long limbs, and a
very long and slender tail. The head is rounded, and shorter than in the
Guenons; the muzzle short, depressed, and but little prominent. The thumb,
although shorter than that digit among the Guenons and Macaques, is present
in all the species, and forms a good prehensile finger with a flat nail.
The hands and feet are long and narrow, and {101}the finger-nails convex;
the great-toe is thick and well-developed. The callosities are small as
compared with the Guenons; the fur is abundant, and generally long, soft,
and often glossy; and over the eyes they have usually a ridge of stiff
hairs projecting in front. The members of this genus, as already observed,
have no cheek-pouches; they have, however, a large laryngeal sac formed and
situated as described above (p. 84).
The skull is round; the eye-sockets large, with a very prominent
superciliary ridge projecting over them; the space between the eyes is
broad, and the lower jaw is deep. The upper molars are four-cusped, and the
posterior lower molar five-cusped.
The Langurs are, when young, good tempered and easily tamed; but when old
they become sulky and ill-natured. They live chiefly in forest regions, in
troops of considerable size. "This genus is spread over almost the whole of
the Oriental region wherever the forests are extensive. They extend along
the Himalayas to beyond Simla, where a species has been observed at an
altitude of 11,000 feet, playing among fir-trees laden with snow-wreaths.
On the west side of India they are not found to the north of the 14th
parallel of latitude. On the east they extend into Arakan, and to Borneo
and Java, but not apparently into Cambodia. Along the eastern extension of
the Himalayas they again occur in Eastern Thibet, a remarkable species (_S.
roxellana_) having been discovered at Moupin (about lat. 32° N.), in the
highest forests, where the winters are severe and where the vegetation is
wholly that of the Palæarctic region." (_Wallace._)
The total number of Monkeys inhabiting the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago is, according to the most recent census, as follows: In
Sumatra, 12; Banka, 4; Borneo, 14; Java, 5; Celebes, 2; Natuna, Bali,
Lombock, Flores, Sumbawa, and Timor, 1 each; the Philippine and Sulu
Archipelagos, 1 each.
{102}I. BARBE'S LANGUR. SEMNOPITHECUS BARBII.
_Presbytis barbei_, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., xvi., p. 734 (1847); id., Cat.
Mamm. As. Soc. Mus., p. 14 (1863); id., Mamm. Burma, p. 11 (1875).
_Semnopithecus barbei_, Anderson, Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 12
(1878); id., Cat. Mus. Calc., p. 48; Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm.,
p. 39 (1891).
CHARACTERS.--Nearly related to _S. obscurus_. Hair on the side of the head,
and in front of the ears, long, projecting outwards; that on the top of the
head long and directed backwards; beard short; face almost nude,
bluish-black; lips thinly furnished with short yellowish hairs. General
colour of the body everywhere black, except on the shoulders, the
fore-limbs to the wrist, the joint of the legs, the back and sides of the
head, and tail, which are washed with pale grey. Length of body, 19½
inches; of tail, 29 inches. The adult female is similar in coloration to
the male. In the skull the orbits are rounded, and the inter-orbital region
elongated. Dr. Anderson observes: "The differences which exist in certain
dimensions between the skulls of well-authenticated examples of the two
sexes are far greater than are generally found in the same sexes of
different species."
DISTRIBUTION.--Northern Tippera hills; Assam; and Mount Mooleyit, in
Tenasserim. Dr. Anderson observed it in the Valley of the Tapeng, in the
centre of the Kachin hills in Upper Burma, and in the defile of the
Irawaddy.
HABITS.--This species inhabits the thick forest, and is found in troops of
from thirty to fifty individuals, distributed, according to Dr. Anderson,
over three or four high forest-trees overhanging the mountain streams. It
is generally tame and fearless.
{103}II. THE BONNETED LANGUR. SEMNOPITHECUS PILEATUS.
_Semnopithecus pileatus_, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., xii., p. 174 (1843);
xiii., p. 467 (1844); Wagner in Schreb. Säugeth. Suppl., v., p. 30, pl.
xxvi., fig. 3 (1855); Hutton, P. Z. S., 1867, p. 946; Schl., Mus.
Pays-Bas, vii., p. 57 (1876); Anderson, Zool. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 13
(1878); id., Cat. Mus. Calc., p. 40; Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm.,
p. 37, fig. 9 (1891).
_Presbytis pileatus_, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., xvi., p. 735 (1847); id.,
Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus., p. 12 (1863); id., Mamm. Burma, p. 11 (1875).
_Semnopithecus potenziani_, Bp., C. R., xliii., p. 412 (1856).
_Presbytis chrysogaster_, Licht.; Peters, P. Z. S., 1866, p. 429; Blyth,
Mamm. Burma, p. 10 (1875).
_Semnopithecus chrysogaster_, Licht.; Peters, M. B. Akad. Berl., 1879, p.
830, pl. iv.b; id., P. Z. S., 1866, p. 429; Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind.,
Mamm., p. 38 (1891).
CHARACTERS.--Nearly allied to _S. entellus_. Face flattened and black;
muzzle long and broad; head without a crest; some long superciliary hairs
projecting in front, black; whiskers long, running down to the chin, and
projecting outwards and backwards, partly concealing the ears, and of a
reddish-yellow colour; beard short, also reddish-yellow; hair on the top of
the head longer than on the back of the head and temples, black or dark
ashy-grey, washed, especially on the front of the head, with rufous; neck,
back, upper part of arm, lower portion of the fore-arm, outside of the
thighs, and tail (except the tufted tip, which is black), ashy-grey--all
these parts being slightly washed with rufous; hands and feet, black;
remainder of the limbs rufous; throat, chest, and fore part of the under
surface, rich {104}orange-yellow, paler on the hind part of the belly and
on the inner side of the limbs. Length of body, 18 inches; of tail, 28½
inches, and with the tuft, 31 inches. Cranium globular; supra-orbital
ridges not prominent.
The young have the fur soft, silky, and rather long, and are much paler
than the adults, and of a soft delicate grey, yellowish-white taking the
place of the rufous colour of the adults. (_Anderson._)
DISTRIBUTION.--Northern Assam, Arracan, Upper Burma, and Tenasserim. Dr.
Anderson observed a troop of this species at Tsingu Myo on the left bank of
the Irawaddy, at the lower end of the first defile.
HABITS.--This species lives in small troops in the forest. When young it is
of a mild disposition; but, when fully adult, the males are ill-natured and
fierce.