Monograph of the Genus Semnopithecus. 437 



Guenon negre. Buff. Supp. vii. p. 47. 

 Simiolus Ceylonicus. Seba. 



Fischer, in his Synopsis, distinguishes the " middle-sized 

 black monkey" of Edwards, as the S. Edwardsii, regarding 

 it however as a doubtful species. He gives Guinea with a 

 query as its habitat, and considers it synonymous with the 

 Cercopithecus Maurus of Erxleben, and the C. afer of La- 

 treille, in Buff. Hist. Nat. xxxvi. Edwards, on whose au- 

 thority Fischer speaks, states that he was informed that his 

 monkey came from Guinea, but he does not assert it as a fact ; 

 he observes that the hair above the eyes was long, and also 

 on the temples, partly covering the ears ; and adds that he 

 had had an opportunity of seeing a black monkey something 

 like his species, called a spider monkey, from the thinness 

 and length of his limbs, with four fingers and a prehensile 

 tail, — in fact a species of the American genus Ateles, to which 

 we have already made allusion. Now we gain from this note 

 an important fact, viz., that the long and slender limbs of this 

 Ateles struck him as being like those of his " middle-sized 

 black monkey," thereby almost demonstrating that this ani- 

 mal must have been a Semnopithecus, (in which genus, the 

 character of the limbs is much the same as in Ateles) ; and 

 not a Cercopithecus ; indeed the figure given by Edwards, 

 though rude, has all the appearance of a young species of 

 Semnopithecus. That it was not an Ateles is proved by its 

 non-prehensile tail, and the presence of a thumb on the hands. 



The Guenon negre is described by BufFon on the authority 

 of Edwards and Seba; the latter of whom terms it Si??iiolus 

 Ceylonicus, indicating by its specific title, that it is a native 

 of Ceylon; and Edwards observes that "in Siam is a large 

 species of monkey, probably different from this," — viz., the 

 "middle-sized black monkey." Shaw, combining the ac- 

 counts of Edwards and Seba, states the Simla Maura to be 

 a native both of Ceylon and Guinea. What Edwards's mon- 

 key really was, or whence it really came, is of course impos- 

 sible for us to determine ; and in referring the specimen here 

 described as Semnopithecus Maurus, to the species figured 

 by him, we are to be understood as only assuming a probabi- 

 lity, based upon the coincidence of his description with that 

 of the specimen before us.* 



* Since writing the above we have had the opportunity of examining an 

 adult specimen of S. Maurus, from India. The general colour is deep 

 black, with a decided silvery grey patch on the under surface at the root of 

 the tail. The hairs of the head radiate from a centre, and those on the sides 

 of the head and face are long and bushy, completely overshrouding the ears. 

 The fur is full, glossy, and soft. Length of head and body 20 inches 

 Tail imperfect. It is evidently the adult of the young specimens to which 

 we have already alluded. 



