25S CLASS MAMMALIA. 



its other habits ; it is by plunging the fingers in water and 

 then sucking them. 



Another species or variety is The Active Gibbon, 

 Wou-wou, of Duvaucel, and F. Cuvier, a name which 

 they have adopted for this animal in consequence of the 

 noise it makes, notwithstanding the previous appropriation 

 of the same name to the Simla Leucisca ; also the Gibbon 

 Agilis of the same writer. 



M. Duvau£el, the describer of this animal, distinguishes 

 it from the preceding Gibbon of Sumatra, in which island 

 this also is found, by its greater degree of activity, particu- 

 larly in a state of nature. It is nearly three feet in height ; 

 the face is naked, of a very dark blue colour, lightly tinted 

 with brown in the female ; the eyes are near each other, and 

 sunken; and the muzzle is remarkably prominent. The nose is 

 not so flat as that of the Siamang, and the nostrils are large 

 and open laterally. The chin is furnished with a few black 

 hairs. The ears are nearly hidden by the long hair around 

 them, and there is a white band round the upper part of the 

 face. The colour of this species seems to vary in different 

 individuals and sexes, and in the same individual at different 

 periods ; but brown, with various shades, appears the pre- 

 vailing tint. 



The active Gibbon is not gregarious like the Siamang, 

 but is generally found only with its female. It springs 

 from tree to tree with wonderful agility, and can therefore 

 but seldom be taken alive. In captivity, however, it exhi- 

 bits little or nothing of its active powers, and though much 

 more lively than the Siamang, is less so than the monkeys in 

 general. Not given to the exciteless apathy of the Siamang, 

 it may be frightened and quieted again : it avoids danger, 

 and courts caresses : is a considerable glutton, curious, fa- 

 miliar, and sometimes even gay. 



It differs from the Siamang in the absence of the guttural 

 bag, though the cry of both is very similar : hence M. Du- 



