8 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



sinensis). These they devoured with unequivocal gusto ; 

 they likewise relished the leaves of many other trees, 

 and even the bark of a few of the more succulent ones. 

 A hint might possibly be taken from this circumstance 

 for improving the regimen of monkeys in menageries, 

 by the occasional admixture of a few fresh leaves and 

 flowers with their solid and substantial dietary. 



A white monkey, taken between Ambepusse and Kor- 

 negalle, where they are said to be numerous, was 

 brought to me to Colombo. Except in colour, it had 

 all the characteristics of Presbytes cephalopterus. So 

 striking was its whiteness that it might have been con- 

 jectured to be an albino, but for the circumstance that 

 its eyes and face were black. I have, heard that white 

 monkeys have been seen near the Eidi-galle Wihara in 

 Seven Korles and also at Tangalle ; but I never saw 

 another specimen. The natives say they are not un- 

 common, and Knox that they are " milk-white both in 

 body and face ; but of this sort there is not such 

 plenty." 1 The Kev. E. Spence Hardy mentions, in his 

 learned work on Eastern Monachism, that on the oc- 

 casion of his visit to the great temple of Dambool, he 

 encountered a troop of white monkeys on the rock in 

 which it is situated — which were, doubtless, a variety 

 of the Wanderoo. 2 Pliny was aware of the fact that 

 white monkeys are occasionally found in India. 3 



When observed in their native wilds, a party of 

 twenty or thirty of these creatures is generally busily 

 engaged in the search for berries and buds. They 

 are seldom to be seen on the ground, except when 



1 Knox, pt. i. c. vi. p. 25. 



2 Eastern Monachism, c. xix. p. 204. 



3 Pliny, Nat. Hist. 1. viii. c. xxxii. 



