HYLOBATES. 3 



apparition of a wild man, from which, instead of shooting it, they fled away. This 

 animal, they said, moved erectly, and was covered with long dark hair, and had no 

 tail. Blyth^ also observes that it exists in the hill ranges to the eastward of Upper 

 Assam, in the region inhabited by the Nagas and Ahors, where it abounds in the 

 upland forests in parties of from 100 to 150 individuals. Erom thence it ranges in 

 a south-westerly direction through the hill region of Assam to Sylhet and Kachar, 

 and the Khasia and Garo hills, in the last of which it is prevalent;^ it is also 

 apparently found in some parts of Mymensing. It spreads through the moun- 

 tains to the north and east of Chittagong, through Arracan, and is distributed south- 

 wards as far as Martaban. Erom Assam and Munipore it crosses the valley of the 

 Irawady, and penetrates into the range of mountains that define its eastern limit ; 

 but it does not pass into the high, but treeless, country to the east of Nantin. 

 Swinhoe' mentions a species of Black Gibbon said to exist in the country to the 

 west of Canton, and suggests that it may be the same as the animal found in 

 Hainan, and which he had attempted to identify with H. pileatus.'^ 



In Arracan and Martaban it is associated with S, lar ; the latter, however, does 

 not appear to extend into the northern portion of the Irawady valley.^ 



The variation of colour, which is so observable in this species throughout the 

 area of its range, seems to be more distinctive of the female than of the male sex, 

 as it would appear to be a rare circumstance to find an adult male otherwise than 

 deep black, whereas females of mature age are not unfrequently pale yellow. 

 At the same time it is a well-ascertained fact that young males occasionally present 

 a similar variation, but whether they become black as they grow older has not been 

 determined. Even in females adhering most to the characteristic hue of the 

 species, the black is always of a less deep tint than in the adult male, and they 

 generally have a brownish tinge. 



I have observed females from Assam and Cachar in which the upper parts were 

 pale yellow and the under parts and the sides of the head brown, whilst the area 

 immediately surrounding the nude parts of the face was so white as to con- 

 trast with the surrounding yellow. This type of coloration approaches that of the 

 " Ungka puti " or ^. agilis. In other females from the same region, the fur instead 

 of being pure yellow is greyish yellow, and their resemblance to JS. leuciscus 

 is such that I have seen hoolocks of this type referred to that species by able 

 zoologists. 



Black would seem to be the prevailing colour of the young at birth, but the 

 not unfrequent occurrence of bright yellow individuals in a species the adults of 



^ Jaurn. As. Soc. Beng. 1844, p. 464. 



2 The type was probably obtaiued from these hills, as Dr. Harlan's specimen came from Goalpara. 



^ Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1870, p. 615. 



* Ihid, p. 225. Du Halde (Descrip. Emp. Chin. vol. 1, p. 1]8), in his description of the kingdom o£ Mansi, men- 

 tions a great black ape. 



5 Tickell states that H. lar extends to the northern confines of Pegu, and limits its westerly distribution to the 

 east of the spur dividing British Burma from Arracan (Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1864, p. 196). 



