890 Asiatic Society. [No. 129. 



thronotum had also been procured by me a few days previously to this small excur- 

 sion. 



The foregoing brief list comprises all the species of birds I remarked, during daily 

 rambles of several hours ; and very scantily were they, in general, dispersed. Of 

 mammalia, the common species were, of course, the Jackal, and the Palm Squirrel 

 and Musk Shrew about habitations. I obtained the Gerbillus Indicus, for the first time 

 I had seen it from Bengal, and learned that it was not uncommon about rice-fields. 

 Of Bats, nothing new was met with, at least additional to what I have procured in 

 the immediate vicinity of Calcutta. I observed the Hoonuman Monkey (Semnopithe- 

 cus Entellus) in great numbers, along the banks of a nullah about fifty miles from this 

 metropolis ; scarcely less tame than domestic animals, and a great annoyance to the 

 villagers whom they plundered incessantly. As soon as my boat was moored, the trees 

 around and almost hanging over were crowded with them, peering with curiosity, 

 though not unmixed with distrust ; nor without due cause, for desirous of getting a 

 fine specimen for the Museum, I soon brought one down, and the villagers, to my con- 

 siderable surprise, gave every encouragement to shoot others, although themselves 

 would not think of doing so. The sacculated stomach of this individual was quite 

 filled with finely masticated foliage, a diet which the conformation of the molar-teeth 

 and stomach in this genus had led naturalists to suspect these animals more or less re- 

 sorted to,* though the actual fact of their doing so had not, I believe, previously been 

 ascertained. These Monkeys were perfectly at home upon the huts of the villagers, 

 and their surprising agility recalled forcibly to mind M. Ruppell's description of the 

 habits of Colobus Gueresa.f Their deep and loud, heavy voice, calling to one another 

 among the trees, could be heard to a great distance.^: 



Of Reptiles, I scarcely met with anything. The pretty Calotes Tiedmanni was now 

 and then seen, and once a sort of Scinque, under a fallen tree, which I failed in secur- 



* Vide Mr. Owen's paper on the stomach of the present species, published in the Zoological 

 Society's Transactions, Vol. I. 



t The Colobi have recently been ascertained by Professor Owen to resemble the Semnopitheci in 

 the conformation of the stomach. 



J The following very interesting observation relative to the habits of the Semnopithecus Entellus, 

 I quote from the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine' for August 1836, page 98. 



" In the extensive jungles which exist in the Burdwan district, the large black-faced Monkey, 

 the Honooman I believe of the natives, is found in considerable numbers, as also in the topes or 

 groves which are scattered over the cultivated parts of the country : which latter circumstance has 

 afforded the means of remarking the curious method which is observed by these animals, for 

 regulating the sexual intercourse of the species. The Monkeys are always found in packs occupy- 

 ing particular trees, and it is remarkable that, in each, only one adult male will be found ; the 

 remainder consisting of females and their young. It is also surprising that this individual should 

 exhibit great animosity towards the male young, pursuing them on every occasion, and never failing 

 to destroy them when they unfortunately fall into his power. To obviate this, the mothers make 

 use of many ingenious expedients, keeping their progeny as much as possible out of sight, and 

 when hotly pressed, throwing them from one branch to another into the hands of other she- 

 monkeys, who take charge of them with as much solicitude as if they were their own. The young 

 female monkeys, on the contrary, are not molested in the least. 



"At a particular season of the year, the great body of he-monkeys, which had been leading a 

 monastic life deep in the woods, sally forth to the plains, and mixing with the females, a desperate 

 conflict ensues for the favours of the latter. This continues for several days, at the end of which 



