68 



APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



shown in our figure of the true langur or hanuman monkey. In all the species 

 the thumb is well developed ; this being a character of great importance, as the 

 chief one by which these monkeys are distinguished from some closely allied 

 African monkeys. The row of long stiff black hairs seen in our figure, projecting 

 from above the eyebrows of the langurs, is another feature by which these monkeys 

 mt'.y be easily recognized. Further, the skulls of all the langurs may be readily 



THE HANUMAN MONKEY, OR TRUE LANGUR. 



distinguished from those of all other monkeys, with the exception of the allied 

 African group mentioned above, by the circumstance that the aperture for the 

 nostrils, which is exceedingly narrow, extends upwards between the sockets for the 

 eyes, instead of stopping at about the level of their lower border. 



Almost the earliest account that we have of the langurs relates to those of 

 Ceylon, and was given in the year 1681 by one Robert Knox, an English seaman, 

 who for nearly twenty years had been a prisoner in that island. Knox says that 



