458 QUADRUMANA. 



Kahau is of a violent and savage disposition, defending itself with courage 

 and ferocity. His authority for this statement is not given ; but, as ferocity 

 is the character of all the Semnopitheci when adult, there is no reason to 

 believe that this, one of the largest and strongest of the genus, yields to 

 any, in those moral traits which are common to the race. 



Notice may here be taken of the shortness of the tail in the present 

 species, compared with what it is in the Semnopitheci generally, in which 

 it usually much exceeds the length of the body. In the specimen measured 

 by the Author, at Paris, the tail was two inches longer than the body ; 

 but the latter might be somewhat shortened in the process of preserving. 

 Desmarest, however, gives one foot eleven inches nine lines (Fr.) as the 

 length of the head and body ; and two feet one inch nine lines, as that of 

 the tail. Mr. Ogilby assigns the length of two feet six inches to the body, 

 and of two feet three inches to the tail. That the tail should only equal 

 the body, or exceed it by a mere trifle, is contrary to the general rule 

 among the animals of this genus. 



The Kahau, as far as known with certainty, is only an inhabitant of 

 Borneo. , Geoffrey St. Hilaire, however, states it to be a native, also, ot 

 the Malay Peninsula ; but we are not aware that it has ever been seen 

 there, or that specimens have been brought from that quarter of the 

 East ; nevertheless, it is not unlikely that it is found in that region ; and 

 that M. Geoffroy obtained his information from an authentic source. 

 Indeed, this might be admitted at once, had he not, by implication, added 

 the western parts of the Peninsula of India to the range of its habitat ; 

 for he informs us that the ambassadors sent by Tippoo Saib to France, 

 on their visit to the Museum, recognised the Kahau, and pointed it out as 

 a native of their country, describing it as an animal of high moral and 

 intellectual qualities. That the ambassadors might have seen it, or heard 

 of it, is not denied ; and by " their country" they might allude to the 

 East generally ; but it is certainly not found wild in the Peninsula of India. 

 Mr. Ogilby informs us that a specimen, in the Leyden Museum, is said to 

 have been brought from Sumatra ; but that all the other specimens of this 

 animal in that collection were obtained from Borneo. This latter island 

 is, in fact, at present, its only authenticated habitat. 



