LANGURS. 69 



of the monkeys and baboons. The common ancestor of the two groups must indeed 

 probably be sought in some long extinct type more nearly akin to the lemurs. 



Although the majority of the Old World monkeys and baboons are inhabitants 

 of the warmer regions of the eastern hemisphere, yet the group is by no means 

 so strictly confined to tropical and sub-tropical regions as we have seen to be the 

 case with the Man-like Apes. Indeed, some of the Asiatic species are capable of 

 withstanding a very considerable degree of cold, and may be found among the 

 snows of the Himalaya and Tibet. 



THE LANGURS. 

 Genus Semnopiihecus. 



With this group of long-tailed Asiatic monkeys, we come to the first of three 

 nearly allied genera, all of which are characterised by their extremely slender and 

 " lanky " build, by the excessive length of their tails, by the legs being longer than 

 their arms, and by the absence of cheek-pouches. All the above characteristics can 

 be verified in the living animal, but there is one other for the examination of which 

 we must turn to the dissecting-room of the anatomist. This internal character 

 relates to the stomach, which, instead of having the simple bladder-like form which 

 it assumes in all other members of the order, is divided into a number of pouches 

 or sacs. When the peculiar pouched stomach was first described scarcely anything 

 was known as to the habits and food of the monkeys in which it is found. Sir 

 Richard Owen, however, sagaciously suggested that from the analogy presented by 

 this peculiar type of stomach to that which characterises the Ruminating Hoofed 

 Mammals, as well as some other vegetable-feeding animals, it would be found that 

 the food of these monkeys consisted in great part of leaves. This suggestion has 

 been fully confirmed by subsequent observations ; and although the habits of the 

 langurs are still but imperfectly known, yet it is stated by Mr. W. T. Blanford that 

 they are more purely herbivorous than those monkeys which are provided with 

 cheek-pouches, and that a very considerable portion of their food consists of leaves 

 and the tender shoots and young twigs of trees. The presence of this remarkable 

 kind of stomach is, indeed, as we have already mentioned, a kind of compensation 

 for the absence of cheek-pouches ; it being more suited to the needs of these animals 

 than the pouches would be. 



The langurs are so-called from the name applied by the natives of Northern 

 India to those species of the group which inhabit the outer ranges of the Himalaya. 

 Langurs, which are known in Germany as Schlankaffen, or slender monkeys, are 

 found over a large portion of South-Eastern Asia, being especially abundant in 

 India and Burma, and represented by one species in the highlands of Tibet. 



structure ^" S ^eir German name implies, the bodies and limbs of these 



monkeys are exceedingly slender ; while the tail is so long that very 

 generally, and invariably in all the species from India, Ceylon, and Burma, it is 

 actually longer than the whole length of the head and body together. This is well 

 shown in our figure of the true langur or hanuman monkey. In all the species 

 the thumb is well developed ; this being a character of great importance, as the 



