SEMNOPITHECI. 



47 



Indies, having in some parts been intro- 

 duced by man. 



In India this monkey is held in great 

 reverence, is regularly fed, and is nursed 

 when ill. " Hunuman," says T. C. Jerdon 

 in his Mammals of India, " the meaning of 

 which is long-jaws, 

 was one of the 

 monkeys of the 

 monkey- kingdom 

 of Southern India, 

 who aided Rama 

 in his conquest of 

 Ceylon, by forming 

 a bridge of rocks 

 opposite Manar, 

 and greatly distin- 

 guished himself. 

 His figure is often 

 found in Hindoo 

 temples in the guise 

 of a man, with a 

 black monkey face 

 and a long tail : he 

 is not worshipped, 

 only greatly rever- 

 enced." 



Flocks of it were 

 at one time allowed 

 to carry on their 

 ravages unpunish- 

 ed, and the mischief 

 which they wrought 

 became at last in 



many places so intolerable, that the British 

 government was obliged to take measures 

 for the destruction of a number of them. 

 Among themselves they are peaceable, and 

 they are extremely lively, excellent jumpers 

 and climbers, roaming about mostly in the 

 tree-tops in great herds, under the leadership 

 of an old male, and feeding on leaves, fruits, 

 and even flowers. When young they are 

 said to be clever and graceful, easily tamed, 

 but always incorrigible thieves. When they 

 grow old, on the other hand, they become 



Fig. 5. The Guercza (Colobusgiiercza). page 48. 



irritable and violent, so that the younger 

 monkeys generally separate themselves from 

 the old ones. They thrive only in the hot 

 plains, not in the mountains. 



Among the many species of the genus 

 we single out one other very peculiar species, 



which has even 

 been made the type 

 of an independent 

 genus, the Pro- 

 boscis Monkey or 

 Kahau (S. nasica), 

 fig. 4, which lives in 

 the hot lowlands of 

 Borneo. The body 

 is somewhat more 

 robust than in the 

 previous species; 

 the fur is of various 

 colours, very bright 

 brown, yellow, dark 

 brown, and white, 

 and these colours 

 are differently dis- 

 tributed in the fe- 

 male from what they 

 are in the more 

 brightly coloured 

 male. The cheek- 

 pouches are absent. 

 In youth the kahau 

 has an impudent- 

 looking, turned-up 

 pug-nose, which in 



another allied species (S. roxellanus), a native 

 of Northern Tibet, is retained the whole 

 life through; but with advancing years the 

 nose, especially in the male, grows long 

 and hooked, and at the same time thick and 

 swollen, and this enlarged nose gets sup- 

 ported by plates of cartilage to which strong 

 muscles become attached, enabling the crea- 

 ture to open its nostrils to an unusual width 

 and close them again. The thin crooked 

 end of the nose hanging down below the 

 mouth is pointed and projects far beyond 



