8 SIMIAD.E. 



4. Presbytis Johnii. 



Simia apud FISHER. Semnopithecus Dussumierii, SCHINZ. S. Johnii, 

 var., MARTIN. ti. cucullatus, Is. GEOFF. S. hypokucos, BLYTH. 

 BLYTH, Cat. 29. HORSFIELD, Cat. 9. 



THE MALABAR LANGUR. 



Descr. Above, dusky brown, slightly paling on the sides; crown, 

 occiput, sides of head and beard, fulvous, darkest on the crown ; limbs 

 and tail, dark brown, almost black ; beneath, yellowish white. Not 

 quite so large as Erdellus. 



This monkey is found on the Malabar Coast, from about N. L. 14 or 

 15 to Cape Cormorin ; that is to say, in the provinces of South Canara, 

 Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore. Horsfield, in his Catalogue, states it 

 to have been found " near Madras, and also in the interior of the 

 peninsula." This is certainly erroneous, and I do not believe that it 

 extends beyond the limit of the forests of Malabar. It does not ascend 

 the mountains to any great height above the sea, and I never saw it 

 above 1,200 or 1,300 feet on the various passes that I have traversed. 

 It certainly does not occur on the wooded table-land of the Wynaad. 

 It is not confined to the forests, but frequents gardens and the belt 

 of cultivated wooded land that extends all along the sea coast of 

 Malabar. 



Like others of this genus, it generally, by a noisy and alarmed chatter, 

 gives notice of the presence of tigers, leopards, and other animals of 

 prey. A pair that frequented my garden at Tellicherry pointed out the 

 situation of a tiger that had come during the night. Its food is similar 

 to that of its congeners fruit, seeds, and leaves, and it has the usual 

 loud cry as it leaps from branch to branch. Though frequenting high 

 trees in garden land, it is not at all familiar, like Entellus in similar spots, 

 and rather shuns observation. It is frequently taken when young and 

 tamed, as is mentioned by Belanger. 



Blyth, in his Catalogue, considers that cucullatus of Is. Geoffroy in 

 Belanger's voyage, belongs to the next species, which he formerly looked 

 upon as Johnii ; but I am convinced that Geoffrey described our monkey, 

 which indeed he procured at Mahi, only 5 miles from Tellichevry, where, 

 as I know, it abounds. It varies a good deal in the intensity of its 

 colour, and especially in the blackness of its limbs and tail, and the 

 young are throughout of a sooty brown. 



