Chapter VIII: The Lion-Tailed Macaque. Macacus Silenus

_Simia silenus_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 35 (1766); Schreber, Säugeth.,
i., p. 87, pl. xi. (1775).

_Cercopithecus veter_, Erxl., Syst. Regn. An., p. 24 (1777).

_Simia ferox_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., i., p. 30, pl. xvi. (1800).

_Papio silenus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 102 (1812); Kuhl, Beitr.
Zool., p. 18 (1820).

{19}_Macacus silenus_, Desm., Mamm., p. 63 (1820); Anders., Zool. Exped.
Yun-nan, p. 93 (1878; with full synonymy); Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind.,
Mamm., p. 16, fig. 5; Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 109 (1876).

_Silenus veter_, Gray, Cat. Monkeys, Brit. Mus., p. 32 (1870).

CHARACTERS.--Head round; muzzle wide; hair on top of the head very short; face surrounded by long hairs, concealing the ears, and meeting under the chin; ears naked; face, hands, feet, and callosities naked; tail slender, one-half to three-quarters the length of the body and tufted with hair. Length, 24 inches; tail, 10 inches.

Skull rounded; muzzle wide in front, contracted at the base, concave beneath the orbits; orbital ridges large, and the frontal bone widely depressed behind them; pre-molars and molars small. The structure of this animal is essentially that of the ordinary Macaques, although it differs from them so much in external physiognomy. (_Anderson_).

Body, limbs, and tail deep black; a ruff of long hairs round the head, darkish grey; chest greyish or white; tail tipped with greyish or white; face, hands, and feet black; callosities flesh-coloured.

DISTRIBUTION.--"The Lion-tailed Macaque inhabits the Western Ghats from below Goa to Cape Comorin, but there is no authentic record of its existence in a wild state in Ceylon." (_Anderson._) It lives at a considerable altitude above the sea.

HABITS.--This species, according to Jerdon (to whom, as Dr. Blanford observes, we are indebted for the only authentic account of this animal in a wild state), inhabits the most dense and unfrequented forests of the hills near the Malabar coast, in herds of from twelve to twenty or more. It is shy and wary. {20}In captivity it is sulky and savage, and not easily taught. The call of the male is said to resemble the voice of a Man.