ilie Taiucjuvs iiihahit'iiKj Cttjlon. ;j07 



Tlie above is a complete list of the speeific names Aviiieli, 

 at divers times, have been ap[)lie(l to the Purple-i'aecd 

 Lanj2,iir. In adilition, S'unia dentata, vShaw (Gen. Zool. i. 

 p. 21, 1800), and Seni/ioj)it/tecus fu/ro(j?'i.s'eus, Desmoulins 

 (Diet. Class, d'llist. Nat. xlviii. p. 189, 18.27), are sometimes 

 cited ill the synonymy of this species ; but I can find 

 nothing iii the original descriptions to connect either of 

 these names with this animal. 



The Furple-t'aeed Laiigur was first clearly referred to by- 

 John Hay (Syn. An. Qiiadr. p. 158, 16)3) iii the following 

 passage : — '' Cercopitheeus niger, barba in caiia piomissa. 

 Wanduru Zeylaiiensibus. Ejusdcm musei" \_i. e., "D. Robin- 

 son e museo Leydensi '*''] ; for the present species is tlie 

 only one inhabiting Ceylon to which such a description can 

 apply. 



The earliest technical name applied to the species is 

 Erxlcben's Cercopitheeus veiulus, diagnosed as " C. barbatus 

 niger, barba alba. Hab. in Zeylona, Asia, Africa,''^ Since 

 the first determinable reference given by Erxleben is to 

 Ray's description, quoted above, there can be no doubt that 

 the name vetulus primarily applies to the present species, 

 and therefore, being valid and available for use in the genus 

 Pli/tecus, this name, dating from 1777, must replace kepha- 

 lopterus, Zimm. (1780), on the ground of priority. The 

 fact that Erxleben, by error unavoidable in the }ear 1777, 

 identified various other species with his vetulus does not, of 

 course, affect the question. Many later writers, including 

 Anderson (1878 and 1881) and El Hot (1913), misled by the 

 secondary wider application attributed to vetulus by Erxlebeu 

 have relegated the name to the synonymy of Macaca silenus^ 

 and have not considered its bearing upon the nomenclature 

 of P. '' cephalopterusr Others, like Blanford (1889j and 

 Forbes (1894-), have rightly given the name a place iu the 

 synonymy of the latter species, but have not applied the 

 priority rule strictly. 



It will simplify matters to state at once that three well- 

 marked forms of the Purple-faced Langur are rej)resented 

 by the material now available. Indicating these forms as 

 A, B, and C, they may be defined sufficiently for present 

 purposes as follows : — 



A. General colour of the body black. 



B. „ ,, ,, dark brown. 



C. ,, „ ,, pale,ashy to brownish grey. 

 After carefully examining the literature, I find that all 



the earlier names, viz., vetulus (based upon Ray's description 

 of specimens in the Levden Museum) ; keiihalopterus^ 



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