GIBB ONS—L ORIS — BA TS 163 



next branch on its descent. It ascends mountains quite as quickly, but when walking 

 on level ground may, in spite of its rapid strides, be easily overtaken. It walks 

 with the sole flat on the ground and the great toe extended apart from the others. It 

 is at once distinguishable from the other gibbons by the white bar across the eye- 

 brows, and its black hands and feet. Its food consists of fruits, leaves, and young 

 twigs, but also includes spiders, insects, birds' eggs, and small birds. Huloks in 

 captivity display so much skill and activity in catching and eating birds that it is 

 possible these may form the principal item of their food in a wild state. These 

 gibbons drink like baboons, bending down their heads to the water, and drinking 

 with the lips. Their name is derived from their call, the two syllables of which 

 several times repeated are imitated by the word hu-lok. At some distance the 

 voice sounds very human, and has a kind of plaintive ring. Huloks are easily 

 tamed when caught young, and as a rule are gentle, good-natured, and intelligent. 



Another species, the white-handed gibbon (H. lar), inhabits Tenasserim, Arakan, 

 and the Malay Peninsula, where it is found at a height of 3500 feet or more in the 

 mountains. This gibbon also has a whitish bar across the eyebrows, but, unlike 

 the hulok, its hands and feet are white. The legs are 20 inches long, the arms 

 measure 25 inches, and the height when erect reaches 30 inches, the females being 

 smaller than the males. This gibbon is so exclusively an arboreal animal, and 

 depends so much on its hands when in movement that it carries its burdens with its 

 feet. Unlike the hulok, it is said to drink from the hollow of the hand. Neither in 

 the wild state nor in captivity is it so active or cheerful as the hulok, nor does 

 it walk so easily. Its voice is also different, but in other respects it is much like 

 its relative. 



The lemurs are represented only by the slow loris {Nycticebus 



tardigradus), which inhabits the mainland east of the Bay of Bengal, 

 as well as Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. This loris has close, woolly hair, which 

 covers the face, except the nose and lips, and almost hides the ears and tail. The 

 larger individuals are ashy grey, much lighter below than above, with a more or 

 less silvery gloss on the back, and a chestnut stripe along the back, expanding 

 on the head, where it forks, one branch running down to the eye, around which it 

 forms a brown ring. From this larger form a smaller phase is distinguished by the 

 reddish grey back, and lighter coloured under-parts, the stripe along the back being 

 wider and in many cases of a bright brown. The broad reddish patch in which 

 this stripe ends on the head encloses the ears, but does not reach the rings encircling 

 the eyes. The slow loris is exclusively nocturnal, and feeds partly on leaves, young 

 shoots, and fruits, and partly on insects, birds' eggs, and young birds. When about 

 to catch an insect, it rises on its hind-legs, and then throws itself on its prey. It 

 is generally silent, or utters only a feeble, crackling sound, but when angry or 

 about to bite, it gives vent to a grunt. 



The bats of the Malay province are mainly of the same types as 



those of India. The Indian fox-bat, however, is represented by the 

 kalong or Malay fox-bat (Pteropus edulis), which is the largest bat known. It is 

 very like its relative, but darker in colour. In iength it measures about a foot, 

 but its wingspread is as much as 5 feet. It inhabits the Malay Peninsula. 

 Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines, and is said to be found on the Nicobars 



