LANGURS. 77 



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

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

 which is usually employed, both by the natives and by the Europeans, in preparing 

 riding equipages and military decorations." 



THE CRESTED LUTOXG (Semnopithecus cristatus). 



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

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

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

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

 disestablished), is described by Dr. Anderson as of a brownish-black colour, 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 grey tint ; the hair of the limbs being yellowish- 

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

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

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

 bluish-black hue. 



The young of this monkey is yellow in colour; and Sir Stamford Raffles 

 records the existence of a race in which the colour of the adult is either light grey 

 or whitish. 



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 Latin name from a former member of the 

 Danish factory at Tranquebar in Madras, belongs to a subgroup characterised 

 by the absence 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 21 to 23 inches, and that of the tail from 32 to 

 35 ; though larger individuals are occasionally met with. The hair of the body 

 is long, fine, and glossy ; and the general colour black to blackish-brown, with the 

 exception of the head and rump, of which the former is brownish -yellow, and 

 the latter ashy -grey. The young of this monkey are black throughout, and 

 this appears to be the case in the next species. The character serves, there- 

 fore, to distinguish these langurs very markedly from those of the preceding 

 group, in which, as we have seen, the young are light-coloured ; and it may be 

 taken as an indication that the present group is the most specialised of all the 

 langurs, not only having acquired the black tint in the adult, but even in the 

 earlier stages of their existence. 



As its name implies, it is found in the Nilgiri Mountains (or Hills as 



