O/i t/ie Mctmmalia in the Zoological Mufieum. 107 



The number of species, thus brought before us, led us to the examination 

 of this group; with the previous descriptions of which we confess we are 

 not much satisfied. From the confusion we have found in these descrip- 

 tions we conjectiu-e that there is either much variety of colour and mark- 

 ings in the species themselves, or that different species have hitherto been 

 included under the same name. Of the Simia Lar, for instance, the des- 

 criptions vary considerably ; in some, particularly the earlier, the species 

 is represented as entirely black, with the exception of a narrow grayish 

 band round the face ; in others, particularly where accompanied by plates, 

 the hands and feet are represented to be gray or whitish. 



It is not our intention to enter deeply at present upon the subject of this 

 group, which would require more leisure and consideration than we can 

 bestow upon it, however favourable is the opportunity which our nume- 

 rous specimens afford us. We may, hereafter, probably return to the 

 subject. We shall now merely refer to the species in the Rafflesian collec- 

 tion to which we have already mentioned oqr wish to call the attention 

 of our readers, and which appears to us distinct from all the rest of the 

 group. These are two specimens of it. One of these accords with some 

 of the later description and figures given of the Simia Lar, but disagrees 

 with the descriptions originally given by Linnaeus of that animal, in 

 which no mention is made of the white hands. It may, it is true, be 

 a variety, or the young of that species. But we consider that by charac- 

 terizing it as distinct, the attention of those who have the opportunity of 

 observing these animals in their native countries may be drawn to the 

 subject, and the point be more accurately determined. 



Simia albimana. 



Sim. nigra, circulo marginante faciem, manibus pedibusque albiits. 



In the specimen from the Indian continent which we consider as Simia 

 Lar, the whitish bordering of the face is confined merely to the forehead ; 

 in the specimen now under consideration it encircles the whole face, and 

 is of considerable breadth. In this latter species the whitish colour of the 

 hands extend upwards of an inch beyond the wrist. The extremities of the 

 fingers and the nails are black. The size of the animal from the top of the 

 head to the extreme of the back is 14^ inches; oftheanteriour arm from the 

 tip of the shoulder to the end of the middle finger, 18 ; of the hind leg, 



