SIMIAD^E. 



437 



and feet are brown ; the sides of the face are white, or whitish ; the eye- 

 brows, black ; a superciliary stripe of white is sometimes distinguishable, as 

 in three specimens in the Museum at Paris ; one of which has the whiskers 

 and beard white, so that the face is encircled by this colour. The soles 

 and palms are black ; all the hind toes free. An adult female, in the Paris 

 Museum, has the top of the head washed with black ; the superciliary 

 mark is dusky white ; the full whiskers round the face are whitish 

 grey ; the general colour is ashy grey, passing into a blackish brown on 

 the chest, around the mammae ; the face is thinly covered with black hairs ; 

 on the chest the hair is thin and straight ; on the rest of the body 

 wavy, soft, full, and deep. Miiller, who met with this species in Java, 

 where he states that it is called Oa-oa, describes it as being somer 

 times of a, darker, sometimes of a paler grey ; sometimes of a yellowish, 

 rarely of a brownish grey, with a circle of white, or light grey, round the 

 face : in aged animals, he adds, the chest becomes of a blackish colour. 



GENERAL HISTORY. The recognition of the Silvery Gibbon, or 

 Wou-wou, as a distinct species, is due to the celebrated anatomist, 

 Camper ; the specimen dissected by him, was brought from one of the 

 Moluccas: in these islands it is said to haunt the tall cane jungles, 

 among which it displays extraordinary activity. 



Two specimens in the museum of the Zoological Society of London 

 (Nos. 8 and 8 a), are stated, in the Catalogue of Mammalia for 1838, to 

 have been obtained in Java. Three specimens in the Museum of 

 Paris are said to have been brought from Sumatra by M. Diard ; but 

 they were, most probably, brought to that island from Java. It would 

 appear that two, if not three, living individuals have, at different times, 

 existed in England : the first of these is described by Pennant ; it belonged 

 to Lord Clive ; and was lively, good-tempered, and frolicsome. In 1828, 

 a young male existed in the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London, 

 where, however, it soon died a victim to the influence of our uncongenial 

 climate. The following notes respecting it have been obtained. 



" The shoulders of this animal were broad, but the rest of the body 

 was slender and short ; he seemed melancholy, and very timid, generally 

 squatting down by the fire, with his long arms and hands resting on his 

 knees : in this position, on account of his small stature when sitting, and 

 his dusky colour, he was frequently overlooked. He never appeared to 

 walk erect without support : before he arose, he would stretch out his 

 hand, and grasp some neighbouring object ; and, even with such assist- 

 ance, he leaned forward very much, and was obliged to stride, bend his 

 knees, and spread out the extremities of his hinder limbs, particularly the 

 thumbs, in order to gain a secure footing. Although usually gentle, he was 

 rather uncertain in temper, and would, occasionally, attempt to bite a 

 stranger. To those whom he knew, he was very affectionate, and 



