Chapter VIII: The Purple-Faced Langur. Semnopithecus Cephalopterus

_Cercopithecus vetulus_, Erxl., Syst. Régn. An., Mamm., p. 25 (1777; in
part).

{113}_Cercopithecus senex_, Erxl., _t.c._, p. 24 (1777); Zimm., Geogr.
Gesch., ii., p. 183 (1780); Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm., p. 35
(1891).

_Cercopithecus kephalopterus_, Zimm., _op. et t.c._, p. 185 (1780);
Bodd., Elench. An., p. 58 (1785); Fischer, Syst. Mamm., p. 17 (1829).

_Simia veter_, Shaw, Gen. Zool., i., p. 36 (1800).

_Cercopithecus leucoprymnus_, Otto, N. Acta. Acad. Cæs. Leop., xii., p.
505, pl. xlvi. _bis_ (1825).

_Semnopithecus fulvo-griseus_, Desmoul., Dict. Class. Hist. Nat., vii.,
p. 570 (1825); Geoffr., C. R., xv., p. 719 (1842).

_Semnopithecus leucoprymnus_, Desmaret, Dict. Sci. Nat., xlviii., p. 439
(1827); Wagner, in Schreber, Säugeth. Suppl., v., p. 25 (1825); Gray,
Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 14 (1870).

_Macacus silenus_, var. _alba_, Fischer, Syn. Mamm., 1829, p. 28.

_Semnopithecus nestor_, Bennett, P. Z. S., 1833, p. 67; Waterh., P. Z.
S., 1844, p. 1.

_Presbytes cephalopterus_, Gray, Hand-List Mamm., p. 4 (1843); Blyth, J.
A. S. Beng., xvi., pp. 734, 1271 (1847); Kelaart, Prodr. Faun. Zeylan.,
p. 1 (1852); Tennent, Ceylon, p. 5, plate, fig. 3 (1861); Blyth, Cat.
Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. Beng., p. 13 (1862).

_? Presbytis thersites_, Elliot MSS.; Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., xvi., p.
1271, pl. liv., fig. 3 (1847); Blanford, P. Z. S., 1887, p. 626 (1891).

_Presbytis albinus_, Kelaart, Faun. Zeylan., p. 7. (1852).

_Semnopithecus cephalopterus_, Martin, Mammif. An., p. 482 (1841);
Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 51 (1876); Anderson, Rep. Zool. Exped.
Yun-nan, p. 22 (1878; full synonymy); Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm.,
p. 34 (1891).

{114}_Semnopithecus kelaartii_, Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 52 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Hair of crown not radiating; top of head and nape dusky-brown; back and limbs darker smoky-brown; lower back, base of tail, and upper posterior surface of thighs varying from ashy-grey to greyish-white, washed, in immature specimens, with brown; hands and feet black; supra-orbital hairs black, projecting outwards, extending nearly to the ears; the long and conspicuous whiskers white, concealing the base of the ears, and forming a sort of ruff, encircling the face; chin and throat white. Face purplish-black. Tail beyond the base dark grey, tufted at the tip and whitish. Under surface dusky-grey; inner sides of the thighs anterior to the callosities pale yellow or white. Length of body, 21 inches; tail, 31 inches.

YOUNG.--Generally similar to the parents. A young female from Ceylon examined by Dr. Anderson was uniform pale-yellowish, the top of the head slightly washed with brownish, and the shoulder and mid-back washed with dusky.

A white variety (_S. senex_) sometimes occurs. "There can be no doubt," says Dr. Anderson, "that _S. cephalopterus_, _S. ursinus_, and _S. johni_ are extremely closely allied to each other"; and indeed it is doubtful whether they are not local races of the same species.

DISTRIBUTION.--The island of Ceylon.

HABITS.--Sir E. Tennent, in his "Natural History of Ceylon," has given the following account of this species:--

"Although common in the southern and western provinces, this Monkey is never found at a higher elevation than 1,300 feet. It is an active and intelligent creature, little larger than the common Bonneted Macaque, and far from being so {115}mischievous as others of the Monkeys in the island. In captivity it is remarkable for the gravity of its demeanour, and for an air of melancholy in its expression and movements which are completely in character with its snowy beard and venerable aspect. In disposition it is gentle and confiding, sensible in the highest degree of kindness, and eager for endearing attention, uttering a low, plaintive cry when its sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when domesticated, and spends much of its time in trimming its fur, and carefully divesting its hair of particles of dust.

"Those which I kept at my house near Colombo were chiefly fed upon plantains and bananas, but for nothing did they evince a greater partiality than the rose-coloured flowers of the red Hibiscus (_H. rosa-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 White Monkey, taken between Ambepusse and Kornegalle, 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 conjectured 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 Ridi-galle Wihara in the Seven Korales, and also at Tangalle; but I never saw another specimen. The natives say they are not uncommon, and Knox states that they are 'milk-white both in body and face: but of this sort there is not such plenty.' The Rev. R. Spence Hardy mentions, in his learned work on 'Eastern Monachism,' that on the occasion of his visit to the great temple of Dambool, he encountered a troop of White Monkeys {116}on the rock in which it is situated--which were, doubtless, a variety of the Wanderoo. Pliny was aware of the fact that White Monkeys are occasionally found in India.

"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 they may have descended to recover seeds or fruit which have fallen at the foot of their favourite trees. When disturbed, their leaps are prodigious; but, generally speaking, their progress is made, not so much by _leaping_, as by swinging from branch to branch, using their powerful arms alternately; and when baffled by distance, flinging themselves obliquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an opposite tree, the momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to cause a rebound of the branch, that carries them up again, till they can grasp a higher and more distant one, and thus continue their headlong flight. In these perilous achievements, wonder is excited, less by the surpassing agility of these little creatures, frequently encumbered as they are by their young, which cling to them in their career, than by the quickness of their eye, and the unerring accuracy with which they seem almost to calculate the angle at which a descent will enable them to cover a given distance, and the recoil to attain a higher altitude."