12 CATALOGUE. 



Semnopithecus melalophos, Raffles. Appendix to the Life 



of Sir T. S. Raffles, p. 642. 

 Semnopithecus flavimanus, Muller, Monographisch over- 



zicht over het GeslacJit Semnopithecus, p. 61. 

 SIMPAI, of the natives of Sumatra. 



HAB. Sumatra. 



A. Presented by Sir T. S. Raffles. 



Sir T. S. Raffles discovered this species in Sumatra about the year 

 1819, and applied to it the appropriate name of melalophos, or "black- 

 crested ; " but this name is Jiow given by systematic writers to another 

 species which greatly resembles it, while the S. melalophos of Raffles is 

 distinguished by the name of flavimanus. Mr. Martin (Quadrumana, 

 p. 472) briefly explains the cause of the confusion in the synonymy of 

 these two species, stating that " the naturalists of the Paris Museum 

 conferred the title of melalophos upon another species, also from Su- 

 matra, and regarded by them as identical with the species described by 

 Raffles, which latter, when it came into their hands, M. Isidore Geoffrey 

 perceived to be distinct from the former, the S. melalophos of French 

 naturalists ; and accordingly described it in the ' Supplement to Be- 

 langer's Voyage,' under the name of flavimanus, which decision has 

 been adopted by mammalogists generally." 



Both species, the melalophos and flavimanus, agree entirely in external 

 habit, physiognomy, and relative proportion of extremities and tail ; the 

 only difference consists in the colour of the hairy covering ; the S. flavi- 

 manus is more diversified, the contrast between the upper and lower parts 

 is greater, the former has a yellowish rufous tint, washed with blackish, 

 the lower parts are nearly white. In the melalophos, the colour is more 

 fulvous-red above, while the underside is nearly yellow. In both, the 

 frontal crest is vertical, and streaked with black. 



Sir T. S. Raffles states that the Simpai is frequent in the neighbour- 

 hood of Bencoolen, on the west coast of Sumatra, while the Dutch na- 

 turalists found the same species exclusively at Indrapura, a few hundred 

 miles further north on the same coast. They never met the melalophos 

 and flavimanus in the same localities, but they live respectively in sepa- 

 rate companies. By the natives, the name of Simpai is given to both 

 species. 



Regarding the melalophos, Dr. Muller remarks : " We observed the 

 Simpai as well in the thick forests covering the mountains, as in the 

 plains along the seashore, but never at an elevation exceeding 3,000 

 feet above the level of the ocean. He is cautious and cunning, and at 



