THE LANGURS 75 



approach of a man, and by the violent bustle and commotion excited by their 

 movements, branches of decayed trees are not unfrequently detached, and thrown 

 down on the spectators. They are often chased by the natives for the purpose of 

 obtaining their fur. In these pursuits, which are generally ordered and attended 

 by the chiefs, the animals are attacked with cudgels and stones, and cruelly 

 destroyed in great numbers. The skins are prepared by a simple process, which 

 the natives have acquired from the Europeans, and they conduct it at present with 

 great skill. It affords a fur of a jet-black color, covered with long silky hairs, 

 which is usually emploj^ed, both by the natives and by the Europeans, in preparing 

 riding equipages and military decorations. ' ' 



THE; CRESTED LUTONG (Semnopithecus cristatus) 



The crested lutong of Sumatra and Borneo is closely allied to the negro mon- 

 key, from which it appears to be chiefly distinguished externally by the blackish fur 

 being usually grizzled, or washed with grayish- white. A male obtained by Sir 

 Stamford Raffles in Sumatra, and presented by him to the Indian Museum (now dis- 

 established), is described by Dr. Anderson as of a brownish-black color, with a 

 fuliginous tinge on the flanks, fore-arms, and crest ; the short crest on the vertex of 

 the head being directed backwards, and the long black hair on the temples coming 

 forwards. The same writer describes a female as black, with the tips of the hairs 

 on the head and body of a lustrous gray tint ; the hair of the limbs being yellowish- 

 gray, except on the hands and feet, where they are black. On the under parts the 

 hair is paler, with yellowish-gray tips; while the tail is black, tipped with gray 

 above but yellowing underneath, more especially near the root. The face has a 

 bluish-black hue. 



THE NILGIRI LANGUR {Semnopithecus johni} 



With the Nilgiri langur we come to the first of a large group of langurs, in 

 which the hair of the crown, instead of radiating from one or more points on the 

 forehead, is uniformly directed backwards without any trace of parting. 



This species, which derives its L,atin name from a former member of the Danish 

 factory at Tranquebar in Madras, belongs to a subgroup characterized by the ab- 

 sence of a crest of hair on the crown of the head ; the hair of the crown itself being 

 not longer than that on the temples and the nape of the neck. The Nilgiri langur is a 

 comparatively small species ; the length of the head and body varying from about 2 1 

 to 23 inches, and that of the tail from 32 to 35, though larger individuals are occa- 

 sionally met with. The hair of the body is long, fine, and glossy, and the general 

 color black to blackish-brown, with the exception of the head and rump, of which 

 the former is brownish-yellow, and the latter ashy-gray. The young of this monkey 

 are black throughout, and this appears to be the case in the next species. The char- 

 acteristic serves, therefore, to distinguish these langurs very markedly from those of 

 the preceding group, in which, as we have seen, the young are light colored ; and it 

 may be taken as an indication that the present group is the most specialized of all 



