84 APES AND MONKEYS. 



Fossil Laxgues. 



As we might naturally suppose would be the case, fossil remains of langurs 

 have been found in their native land of India. Some of these have been obtained 

 from caverns in the Madras Presidency, and do not date back much, if at all, beyond 

 the human period. Other remains occur, however, in the much older Siwalik 

 sandstones forming the ranges on the flanks of the Himalaya, and belonging to the 

 upper part of that di^nsion of the Teriiaiy period known to geologists as the 

 Pliocene. This does not, however, by any means limit the i-ange of extinct langurs, 

 since their remains have been found in the Pliocene deposits of the Val d'Amo in 

 Tuscany, and also in strata of equivalent age in the south of France. We have, 

 therefore, e\adence that these monkeys, which are now confined to the Oiiental 

 region, were formerly widely spread over the eastern hemisphere. 



The Proboscis Moxket. 

 Genus Xasalis. 



If the physiognomy of the Tibetan langur strikes us as ludicrous, it is hard to 

 say what epithet we ought to apply to the far more grotesque-looking creature 

 represented in the accompanj-ing figiu'e. The nose of the proboscis monkey is 

 indeed so enormous in proportion to the face that it presents the appearance of an 

 absolute deformity, and it is very hard to imagine of what possible advantage it 

 can be to its owner. 



The proboscis monkey (iY. larvatus) is an inhabitant of Borneo, and its 

 marked difterence from other monkeys is one of the many pi'oofs indicating the 

 great antiquity of that island, and the long period during wliich it has been isolated 

 from other lands. In general structure the proboscis monkey conforms so closely 

 to the langurs that the peculiai-itj' of its nasal organ would not alone justify its 

 separation from that gi-oup as the i-epresentative of a distinct genus, although it 

 was on tills groimd alone that the separation was originally made. Subsequent 

 researches have, however, shown that the skull can be distinguished at a glance 

 from that of anj' of the langui-s, and also from those of the African genus Colohus, 

 to be mentioned immediatel}', by the form of the aperture of the nasal cavity. 

 Thus, whereas in the latter this apei-ttire extends upwards between the sockets 

 of the eyes, in the probo.scis monkey the nose bones which roof over this apertiu-e 

 descend considerably below the lower margin of the ej-e-sockets. In this respect 

 the species vmder consideration resembles the macaques and their allies. 



The proboscis monkej^ was first made known to Eiu'opean science in 1781 

 by Baron Wui-mb, sometime Dutch governor of Bata\-ia. Wui-mb described it 

 under the name Kahau, a term apparently made up from a resemblance to its cry, 

 but unknown to the native inhabitants of Borneo, by whom it is said to be called 

 Bantajau. Specimens were subsecjuently sent to Europe by Sir Stamford Raffles, 

 and it was considered by Messrs Vigors and Horsfield that these indicated two 



