OEDEE OF QUADEUMANA. 
587 
but prefer fruits and roots. They readily tame, and, unlike the 
majority of the Old-World Monkeys, do not manifest any change 
of temper, any malevolent disposition, when they have attained 
adult life. The principal species of the genus are the Agile 
Gibbon, the Siamang, and the Howling Gibbon or Hooloch. 
Doctor Franklin, speaking of the Agile Gibbon, says : — 
“ Some years ago a female of this species was exhibited in 
London. The cries it emitted when going through its perform- 
ances, naturalists decided to be most musical. This individual 
was timid and gentle. It preferred the society of women to that 
of men. It was thought that this circumstance was due to the 
bad treatment it had received at the hands of the stronger sex. 
It was intelligent and observant : its piercing eyes seemed to be 
always on the qui vive, scrutinising every one, and missing 
nothing of what passed around. When any one gained its 
confidence, it consented after several invitations to descend from 
its perch and shake hands.”* 
The Siamang — to which the term Syndactyla is applied, 
because the first and second fingers of the posterior limbs are 
united as far as the middle of the second joint — has been well 
studied, in its native country, by the naturalist Duveaucel. The 
face and entire coat are quite black. It is more particularly 
known by an enormous pouch which communicates with the 
larynx, and which it can distend at pleasure, by introducing into 
it a certain quantity of air. This is situated in front of the 
throat, where it looks like the enlargement known as goitre. 
According to Duveaucel, they collect in numerous troops, under 
the leadership of an experienced chief, and greet the sun, at 
its rising and setting, with cries which are heard for several 
miles round. They are not very nimble, but their sense of 
hearing is extremely acute ; the moment they notice the slightest 
sound, they decamp without delay. Hut if they are on the 
ground, and they have not time to reach trees, they are easily 
overtaken. When one of the mature animals is wounded, it is 
pitilessly abandoned by its companions. Hot so with a young 
one, for its mother halts, throws herself before the enemy with 
fearful howlings and every demonstration of grief. 
An English naturalist, George Bennett, had in his possession a 
* La Vie des Animaux (Mammiferes). 
