SIMIAD.E. 425 



food of the Siamang in his wild condition. Sweetmeats of all kinds, 

 and also onions, though their acridity caused him to sneeze, and loll out 

 his tongue, were sought after and eaten with great satisfaction. His 

 method of drinking was awkward and wasteful : he first applied his lips 

 to the liquid, and then threw his head up ; which action, Mr. Bennett 

 considers, may be occasioned by the prominence of the lower jaw ; but 

 if the vessel were shallow, he only dipped in his hand, and held it over 

 his mouth, for the liquid to drop between his lips. When tea or coffee 

 was given to him, the tongue was carefully protruded, for the purpose of 

 ascertaining its temperature. 



This interesting individual died on nearing our shores, from the 

 effects of disease induced by cold east winds, to the regret of all the 

 crew. In comparing the account of the habits of this animal, as detailed, 

 on the one part, by Sir T. S. Raffles, and, more particularly, by Mr. G. 

 Bennett, with that, on the other, given by M. Duvaucel, there is some 

 difficulty in reconciling their direct opposition. There is, indeed, reason 

 for suspecting that the latter naturalist has done the Siamang some wrong, 

 as his own details are contradictory in themselves. 



THE AGILE GIBBON. 



HYLOBATES AGILIS. (Hylobates agilis, F. CUVIER, Mamm. lith. liv. 32. c. fig. male and female. 



Sept. 1821.) 



Ungka-puti RAFFLES, Linn. Trans, vol. xiii. p. 242. 1822. 



Ungka-etam RAFFLES, Linn. Trans, vol. xiii. p. 242. 1822. 



Pithecus agilis DESMAREST, Mamm. Supp. p. 523. 1822. 



Oungka, Hylobates Lar . . . . F. CUVIER, Mamm. lith. June, 1824. 



Simla Lar VIGORS and HORSEFIELD, Zool. Journal, vol. iv. p. 106. 1828. 



Hylobates Rafflesii GEOFFROY, Cours d'Hist. Nat. Lect. 7. 1828. 



Hylobates variegatus MULLER, Over der Zoogdieren van den Indischen Archipel. 1840. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Fur full and soft, varying in colour from black or grey-black to 

 pale flaxen brown ; the loins and lower part of the back always paler than the rest ; 

 the chest and abdomen dark ; superciliary stripe white or whitish ; whiskers and 

 beard sometimes white, or of a flaxen colour. 



LOCALITY. Sumatra. 



The confusion in which the present species has been involved, renders 

 the following observations absolutely unavoidable. 



Sir T. S. Raffles brought, among other Simiae, to Europe, from 

 Sumatra, what he regarded as two species of Gibbon, respectively called 

 Ungka-puti, or Hylobates agilis, and Ungka-etam ; which latter was 

 referred, by himself, and also by Messrs. Vigors and Horsefield, to the 

 Simia Lar of Gmelin, as well as by Fred. Cuvier :* subsequently, its 



* Lesson, in his Manuel de Mammalogie, 1827, observes, that the Hylobates agilis of Fred. Cuvier 

 is the Simia Lar of Sir T. S. Raffles, an assertion utterly unfounded : for Sir T. S. Raffles accurately 

 distinguishes between this animal, his Ungka-puti, and that termed Ungka-etam ; which latter, and 

 not the Ungka-puti, this accomplished naturalist regarded as the Simia Lar, a point in which 

 he was, undoubtedly, mistaken. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, in his Court d'Histoire Nat. ties Mammiferes, 



VOL. I. 3 I 



