THE LANGURS 69 



some of the Singalese monkeys ' ' are as large as our English spaniel dogs, of a 

 darkish-gray color, and black faces, with great white beards round from ear to ear, 

 which make them show just like old men. They do but little mischief, keeping in 

 the woods, eating only leaves and buds of trees ; but when they are caught they 

 will eat anything. This sort they call in their language wanderows (wanderus)." 

 This account has been thought to apply to the lion-tailed monkey (a macaque), 

 which was formerly incorrectly called the Wanderu. That monkey is, however, 

 black ; and there is not the slightest doubt but that Knox described the langurs, 

 which are the wanderus of the Singalese. 



THU HANUMAN, OR TRUE L,ANGUR (Semnopithecus entellus) 



Perhaps the best known of all the langurs, and the one which gives the scientific 

 name to the genus, is the hanuman monkey, or true langur, of which we give a fig- 

 ure. This fine monkey is found throughout the northern part of Peninsular India, 

 from Southwestern Bengal and Orissa to Gujerat and Bombay, and is also found in 

 Kattywar, and probably Katch, although unknown in Sind and the Punjab. South- 

 wards it ranges into the Bombay Deccan ; while its extreme northern limit extends 

 to the outer ranges of the Himalayas, although there is still some doubt as to where 

 the range of this species ends and that of the next begins. 



The hanuman is one of four species of Indian langurs, characterized by having 

 the hair covering the crown of the head radiating in all directions from a central 

 point situated on the forehead. It is distinguished from its allies by the absence of 

 any crest of hair on the head, of which the color is scarcely, if at all, paler than that 

 of the back, and by the full black color of the upper surfaces of the hands and feet. 

 The hair of the cheeks does not cover the relatively large ears. The general color 

 is grayish-brown, paler in some individuals than in others ; but the face, ears, feet, 

 and hands, are coal-black. In size a large male hanuman will measure some 30 

 inches in head and body ; but average specimens will be about 25 inches, while 

 their tail will measure as much as 38. As Mr. Sterndale has well observed: "The 

 tout ensemble of the langur is so peculiar that no one who has once been told of a 

 long, loose-limbed, slender monkey, with a prodigious tail, black face, and over- 

 hanging brows of long, stiff, black hair, projecting like a penthouse, would fail to 

 recognize the animal." 



L,angurs are exceedingly common throughout a large part of India, 

 and in most districts are held sacred by the Hindus, by whom they are 

 allowed to plunder the grain shops at will. Mr. Sterndale considers, however, that 

 the best times of the hanuman are over, and that it is not now allowed the free run 

 of the bazaars so readily as it once was, while in some districts the aid of Europeans 

 has even been invoked to rid the natives from the devastations of these monkeys, 

 which take their name from the god Hanuman, to whom they are sacred. 



As Mr. W. T. Blanford observes, the protection accorded to the hanuman by 

 the Hindus of Northern India has caused these animals to be so tame, and so utterly' 

 regardless of the presence of man, that there are but few Mammals whose habits 

 can be so well observed. The same writer states that, "The hanuman is usually 



