1832.] Catalogue, Sfc. 161 



XI. — Catalogue of Mammalia observed in the Dakhan. By Major 



W. H. Sykes. 



[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.] 



Homo sapiens, L. — The people inhabiting the Dakhan have the Georgian form of 

 skull ; their stature is low ; the colour of the skin brown, with shades running 

 into yellow white in the higher classes, and black in the lower. The females are 

 not distinguished for fertility, the average number of births to a marriage being 

 less than in Europe. More males are born than females, and in nearly four milli- 

 ons of people I found the proportions of females to males to range in different 

 districts from eighty to ninety females to one hundred males. 



Semnopithecus Entellus, F. Cuv. Mdkar of the Mahrattas. — This species is 

 found in large troops in the woods of the Western Ghats. It is not venerated by 

 the Mahratta people, nor do they object to its being killed. 



Semn.? albogularis, Sykes. Semn. ? supra Jiavo nigroque, infrh albo nigroque, 

 irroratus ; gula alba ; artubus nigris : mistacibus latis aures pe?ti obvelantibus ; 

 super cilior urn pilis rigidis easta?itibus. 

 Hab. in Madagascar ? 



This species (a living individual of which is now in the garden of the Society) 

 appeal's to be new to science. It is only provisionally classed as a Semnopithecus, 

 pending our inability to examine its posterior molars. The animal was obtained at 

 Bombay, where it was believed to have been taken from Madagascar ; and as it has 

 some characters in common with the Cercopitheci (especially with the group of 

 which the Cere. Saba?us forms a part) and the Semnopitheci of India, it may ulti- 

 mately prove to be a connecting link between the African and Asiatic monkeys. 

 It wants the long limbs of the Semnopitheci : and although its tail is very long, it 

 is not particularly thin. 



The following is the description of the animal — a male. Canines remarkably 

 long (nearly ^ of an inch), slender, sharp ; incisors very short and even. Head 

 rounded and short. Ears very small, nearly rounded, and for the most part con- 

 cealed in the long hair about the head. Eyes deeply seated, and shaded by a con- 

 tinuous arch of long hairs directed forwards. Irides broad ; of a brown ochre 

 colour : hair forming a bunch on each cheek and resembling whiskers : no beard. 

 Cheek pouches rudimentary only, not observable externally, even when filled, be- 

 ing concealed by the bushy hair of the cheeks. Thumbs of anterior hands short 

 and distant ; those of the posterior long. Whole of the upper surface of the ani- 

 mal of a mingled black and yellowish ochre colour, each hair being banded black 

 and ochre ; the black prevailing on the shoulders, the ochre on the back and flanks. 

 Under surface grizzled white and black. Anterior limbs uniform black ; poste- 

 rior black, wit-t a little of the dorsal colour. Chin and throat pure white. Tail 

 black, half as long again as the body. 



The manners of this monkey are grave and sedate. Its disposition is gentle but 

 not affectionate : free from that capricious petulance nnd mischievous irascibility 

 characteristic of so many of the African species, but yet resenting being teased, and 

 evincing its resentment by very smart blows with its anterior hands. It nevej bit 

 any person on board ship, but so seriously lacerated three monkeys, its fellow pas- 

 sengers, that two of them died from the wounds. It readily ate meat, and from choice 

 would pick a bone even when plentifully supplied with vegetables and dried fruits. 

 Macacus radiatus, Geoff. Wadnar of the Mahrattas. — This well known species 

 inhabits the woods of the Western Ghats in small troops, A female brought to 

 England by me and presented to the Society, was capricious and mischievous in 

 disposition, but of surprising courage and marked intelligence. It manifested con- 

 siderable attachment to myself, which was less transient than I had anticipated, as 

 it greeted me with evident demonstrations of joy on my visiting it in the gardens 

 after the lapse of a month without seeing me. The natives of Western India edu- 

 cate this monkey to perform certain tricks. 



Pteropus medius, Temm. Warbagulol the Mahrattas, — This species is very nume- 

 rous in Western India. Such variations are found in the colouring of different 

 individuals in the same troop, that two or three species might be supposed to exist 

 in it ; but the great mass so closely resembles the Pter. medius of M. Temminck, 

 that I do not consider myself justified in describing the Rossette of the Dakhan as 

 a distinct species. The only persons in Western India who eat these bats are the 

 native Portuguese, but 1 can personally testify that their flesh is delicate and 



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