7 8 APES AND MONKEYS. 



they are commonly called by Anglo-Indians) of Southern India; and its range 

 extends from the Wynaad southwards to Cape Comorin. 



According to Mr. W. T. Blanford, this langur " is shy and wary, the result of 

 human persecution. It inhabits the sholas, or dense but abruptly limited woods of 

 the Nilgiris, and other high ranges of Southern India, and is also found in the 

 forests on the slopes of the hills, usually in small troops of from five to ten indi- 

 viduals. It is very noisy, having a loud guttural alarm-cry, used also to express 

 anger, and a long loud call. Jerdon relates that when the sholas of the Nilgiri 

 range were beaten for game, these monkeys made their way rapidly and with loud 

 cries to the lowest portion, and thence to a neighbouring wood at a lower level. 

 In consequence of the beauty of their skins, and the circumstance that certain 

 castes eat their flesh, these monkeys are more frequently shot than most of the 

 Indian species, hence their shyness." 



THE PURPLE-FACED MONKEY (Semnopithecu* cephalopterus). 



The purple-faced monkey is the representative of this group in the island 

 of Ceylon. It is known to be liable to considerable variations of colour, and 

 at least, in a popular work like the present, we may follow Dr. Anderson in 

 regarding the Singalese langurs known as the white monkey (S. senex), and the 

 bear monkey (8. ursinus) as nothing more than well-marked varieties of this 

 species. 



There is a ready means of distinguishing the purple-faced monkey from 

 the Nilgiri langur. In the latter the cheeks are of the same brown colour 

 as the rest of the head, in the former they are always much paler than the crown. 

 Typically this species is of small size, the length of the head and body being 

 only 20 inches, and that of the tail 24J inches. The so-called bear monkey is, 

 however, somewhat larger ; the length of the head and body being 21, and that of 

 the tail 26 inches. In colour the typical purple-faced monkey varies from dusky- 

 to smoky-brown and black, more or less tinged with grey on the back and upper 

 parts, this grey being always present on the haunches. In the head the long 

 whiskers on the cheeks stand out in striking contrast to the brown hue of the 

 rest of the head. Some varieties are more decidedly brown; and in the bear 

 monkey dusky-brown is the prevalent hue, with complete absence of the grey on 

 the haunches. The white monkey, which we are disposed to regard merely as a 

 variety of this species, is a curious-looking animal, being of a general yellowish- 

 white colour, with a faint brownish tinge on the head, and tending to a dusky hue 

 on the shoulders and down the middle of the back. The face and ears retain the 

 usual black colour, but the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet are flesh- 

 coloured. 



The typical form is found over the greater part of Ceylon at low or moderate 

 elevations, and apparently not ascending above some thirteen thousand feet above 

 the sea-level. The bear and white monkeys are, however, confined to the southern 

 parts of Ceylon, and ascend to much greater elevations ; the former variety being 

 especially abundant in the high mountains in the neighbourhood of the town of 

 Newera Ellia. 



