_Semnopithecus nigripes_, A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. vi., p. 7
(1871); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 32 (1876); Anderson, Zool. Res.
Exped. Yun-nan, p. 4 (1878).
CHARACTERS.--Similar to _S. nemæus_, but differing in having the posterior
limbs black, and the fore-arms grizzled, instead of white. The whiskers are
short and black, the body more slender, longer, and entirely white. The
hind-limbs are also more elongated. Both sexes are alike; and the young
differ little from the adults.
The brain-case is depressed, the face short, and the inter-orbital swelling
peculiar to so many of the crested _Semnopitheci_, is wanting.
DISTRIBUTION.--Saigon in Cochin-China, and the forests bordering the Mekong
river towards its mouth.
{136}XXVII. THE BLACK-CRESTED LANGUR. SEMNOPITHECUS MELANOLOPHUS.
_Simia melalophus_, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc., xiii., p. 244 (1821).
_Semnopithecus melalophus_ (Le Cimepaye), F. Cuv., Hist. Nat., Mammif.,
livr. xxx. (July, 1821); Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc., xxii., p. 245 (1822);
Desmar., Dict. Sc. Nat., xlviii., p. 38 (1827); Martin, Mammif. Anim., p.
470 (1841); Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 16 (1851); Gray, Cat.
Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 16 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 43
(1876; in part); Anders., Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 34 (with full
synonymy; 1878).
_Semnopithecus flavimanus_, Lesson, Cent. Zool., p. 109, pl. xl. (1830);
Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 16 (1851).
_Semnopithecus sumatranus_, var. _auratus_ (nec Geoffr.), Müller and
Schl. Verhandl., pl. x. _bis_, fig. 2 (1839-44).
_Presbytes melanophus_, Gray, Hand. List Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 2 (1843).
_Presbytes flavimana_, Gray, _t.c._, p. 2 (1843).
_Semnopithecus nobilis_, Gervais, Hist. Nat., Mammif., p. 63 (1854);
Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 17 (1870).
_Semnopithecus ferrugineus_, Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 42 (1876).
CHARACTERS.--Head crested; the crest dark-brown, tipped with dusky;
forehead pale yellow; a line from the outer corner of the eye to the ear,
dark brown; back, sides, and shoulders reddish, washed with pale brown; the
rest of the fore-limbs, the whole of the hind-limbs, and the tail,
orange-red. Length of body, 18 inches; of tail, 32 inches.
The golden variety (_S. auritus_) from Sumatra, is generally yellowish-red
throughout.
{137}The skulls present a good deal of variation in the form of the
internal orbital angles of the frontal, and in the occipital, bones.
DISTRIBUTION.--Sumatra: Padang, Indrapoera, Bencoolen, Palembang, and the
Lampongs.
HABITS.--The "Simpai," as the Malays call this Langur, is very abundant in
Sumatra, where the present writer has obtained it both in the north of the
Palembang Presidency and in the south of the Lampongs. It is undoubtedly in
part to this species that Dr. Wallace refers in his "Malay Archipelago,"
when, at Lobo Raman, he says that they frequented the trees overhanging the
guard-house in which he was staying. "Two species of _Semnopithecus_ were
most plentiful--Monkeys of a slender form and long tails. Not being much
shot at, they are rather bold, and remain quite unconcerned when natives
alone are present, but when I came out to look at them, they would stare
for a minute or two and then make off. They take tremendous leaps from the
branches of one tree to those of another a little lower, and it is very
amusing when one strong leader takes a bold jump, to see the others
following with more or less trepidation; and it often happens that one or
two of the last seem quite unable to make up their minds to leap till the
rest disappear, when, as if in desperation at being left alone, they throw
themselves frantically into the air, and often go crashing through the
slender branches and fall to the ground."