Chapter XIX: The Banded Langur. Semnopithecus Femoralis

_Simia maura_, Raffles (nec. Schreb.), Tr. Linn Soc., xiii., p. 247
(1822).

{127}_Semnopithecus femoralis_, Horsf. App. Life Raffl., p. 643 (1830);
Martin, Mammif. An., p. 480 (1841; in part); Horsf., Cat. Mamm. E. I. Co.
Mus., p. 10 (1851); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 45 (1876); Anderson,
Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 30 (1878; with full synonymy); Thomas, P.
Z. S., 1886, p. 66; Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm., p. 42 (1891);
Hose, Mamm. Borneo, p. 13 (1893).

_Semnopithecus chrysomelas_, Müll. Tijds., Nat. Ges., v., p. 138, plate
(1838); Wagner, in Schreb., Säugeth. Suppl., v., p. 22 (1855; in part).

_Semnopithecus sumatranus_, Müll. und Schl. Verh., pp. 6, 73, pl. 10 bis,
fig. 1 (1839-44).

_Simia femoralis_, Cantor, J. A. S. Beng., xv., p. 175.

CHARACTERS.--Head with a rather short vertical crest directed backward, and the hair in front directed forward over the eyes. The dominant colour is brownish-black, replaced by white on the hinder part of the belly and tail, which is slightly tufted at the tip, and more or less on the inner side of both limbs, and on the centre of the chest. Face, ears, palms, and the sides of the feet, black.

YOUNG.--Similar to the adults, but the throat, chest, abdomen, yellowish-white.

DISTRIBUTION.--The islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

HABITS.--This is a low-country Monkey, according to that excellent observer Mr. C. Hose, and is seldom to be found on the mountains, and then only up to about 1,000 feet. It is fond of living near the seashore, and is generally found, in numbers of from ten to thirty, sitting on the branches of tall trees in open spaces. Its Dyak name is "Bigit," and its Kayan name "Pant."

{128}Very nearly related to this species, if indeed it be really distinct, is the GOLDEN LANGUR, or Lootoong of the Malays, S. AURATUS, Geoffr. (Ann. Mus., xix., p. 93, 1812), which is synonymous with the _S. chrysomelas_ of Wagner, for the two agree in every respect except that the latter is lighter coloured, and has black hairs intermixed among the yellowish hairs on its head, tail, and limbs.

Professor Schlegel has (Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 47) separated a specimen from Singapore, and closely related to _S. femoralis_, as a distinct species, under the name of S. NEGLECTUS. It is easily distinguished, as he points out, by the general hue of its fur being black turning insensibly into greyish-brown, speckled here and there with white; in the middle line of the chest, on the lower belly, and on the inner side of the fore-arm, and thighs alone, is there any white; this and the uniformly dark tail distinguish _S. neglectus_ from _S. femoralis_ and _S. chrysomelas_.