174 Asiatic Society. [No. 134. 



to curve over the back ; they seek to hide themselves in thick bushes, or more com- 

 monly upon trees which have sufficiently dense foliage for the purpose, but which 

 are not too thick for them to observe what is going forward around ; the bamboo and 

 the tamarind tree are thus particularly selected, but not the mango which is too 

 dense ; and when a quick eye has discerned one couched within the foliage, or 

 peering from behind a fork of the timber, of perhaps some isolated tree, away it will 

 suddenly rush in the finest imaginable style to the ground through the branches, 

 and make off with a rapidity which few marksmen could depend on checking. There 

 are not many places, however, as is well known, where the Hoonuman can be shot 

 at with impunity ; but I know of one within a moderate distance of Calcutta, where 

 the natives render every aid to the gunner who will help to rid them of these trouble- 

 some neighbours : another tide up the river, and we arrive at Gouptipara,* the 

 scene of M. Duvaucel's anecdote of one these Monkeys; and there, as in his time, 

 the Hoonumans are strictly protected. That accomplished naturalist remarks that 

 the appearance of this species in Lower Bengal takes place principally towards 

 the latter end of winter ; upon which Mr. Martin notes, that it appears to migrate from 

 the upper to the lower provinces of this part of India. I can only state that I have 

 found them equally numerous in July and January in the particular locality adverted 

 to, and that 1 have seen them in June close to Calcutta on the opposite side of the 

 river. With respect to the alleged migration of the Himalaya species (?), also, Capt. 

 Hutton mentions, that— -" This species is found at Simla all the year through, but 

 when the snow falls during the winter it seeks a warmer climate, in the depth of the 

 Khads, returning again to the heights as it melts away. I have seen them, however, 

 on a fine sunshiny day even with the snow on the ground, leaping from tree to tree 

 up and down the hill of Jakii at Simla, which is 8115 feet. Royle," continues this 

 observer, " is mistaken when he says, that the Entellus alone ascends in the summer 

 months as high as 9000 feet ! I have seen them at Ndgkunda in August at 9000 feet, 

 and in winter on Hdttu mountain which is 10,655 feet; and in winter at Simla with 

 snow four or five inches deep, and hard frosts at night, as high as 8000 feet." The 

 Macacus Rhesus, also, was seen by this observer "repeatedly during the month of 

 February when the snow was five or six inches deep at Simla, roosting (?) in the trees at 

 night, on the side of Jaku, and apparently regardless of the cold." J. A. S. VI, 934-5. 



I know of one locality where the whole numerous community of Bengal Hoonu- 

 mans appears to consist of males only, of different ages from half grown or less to adults ; 

 and the natives of that part say that furious battles are frequent among them : whereas 

 the great majority are females in the other locality that has been spoken of, and it is 

 understood that each male attached to a flock of females allows no other male, even 

 half-grown, to approach them. Though a stream navigable for boats passes through 

 the jungle inhabited by the latter community, or probably series of communities, 

 with plenty of Hoonumans on each side of it, the natives of the place informed me 

 that they had never known one to pass across, or in fact to enter the water. 



S. pileatus, Nobis, n. s. ? Cercopithecus albocinereus ?, Desmarest. A particularly 

 handsome (half-grown) specimen of an animal of this genus has been received by the 

 Society from Barrackpore, stated to be Malayan, but which I cannot identify with 



* Not Goalpara, as Mr. Ogilby surmises ; but Gouptipara, as Mr. Duvaucel spelt it, and as it is 

 also spelt in the maps, — a place on the right bank of the Hoogly, opposite Santipore. 



