Chapter XXI: The Natuna Langur. Semnopithecus Natunæ

_Semnopithecus natunæ_, Oldfield Thomas and Hartert, Nov. Zool. i., p.
652 (1894).

CHARACTERS.--ADULT MALE.--Size, proportions, and coloration showing a general resemblance to the _S. femoralis_ group, the prevailing colours being black and white. While, however, the forehead, the fore-arms and hands, lower legs and feet, and tail (both above and below) are all deep glossy black, the back itself, with the occiput, nape, and shoulders, is brown. Thighs along a narrow strip on their outer aspect, ashy grey, darkening distally into the black of the lower legs, but their posterior aspect, continuous with their inner sides, is perfectly white, giving a very peculiar and characteristic appearance to the animal, and one which is quite unlike any species known to us, with the one exception that _M. siamensis_ has whitish patches in somewhat the same position. Whole of under surface, with the sides of the neck, the hairs on the inside of the ears, and lines down the inner sides of the arms and legs, pure creamy white. Face thinly haired throughout, the hairs black, except those on the nose, where there is a whitish patch. Forehead with the hairs radiating outwards and backwards {130}from a single central point about half or three-quarters of an inch behind the eyebrows; posteriorly these hairs are much lengthened, as are those on the occiput, the latter being directed forwards and upwards in such a way that the black hairs of the forehead and the brown ones of the occiput meet to form a high crest on the crown. (_Oldfield Thomas_ and _Hartert_, _l.c._).

YOUNG.--Messrs. Oldfield Thomas and Hartert describe a new-born specimen as follows: "Middle line of dorsal surface from crown to anus, and whole of tail, deep black, the breadth of the black on the back being about an inch and a half; the outer sides of the shoulders greyish, and also the backs of the hands and feet commencing to become black. The whole of the rest of the animal, including the forehead, arms, and legs, wholly pure white."

"Although among the many closely allied species of _Semnopithecus_ it is difficult to be at all sure of their mutual affinities, it would seem that _S. natunæ_ is most nearly related to _S. femoralis_, Horsf., and _S. siamensis_, M. and S. Both of these have a similar arrangement of the hairs on the crown and nape; and, on the other hand, the former possesses the wholly black hands, feet, and tail of _S. natunæ_, and to a certain extent the browner tint of the back, while, on the other, _S. siamensis_ has its whitish under side and light thigh-patch, although united with a widely different coloration."

HABITS.--Mr. Everett gives the following note: "Native name 'K[)e]káh,' which is onomatopoeic. These animals were common about the base of Mount Ranai, going in troops, and they commit great depredations on the native gardens. The irides are light cinnamon-brown; face livid black, the eyelids and muzzle, {131}white; feet and hands very dark brown; the ears blackish externally, the outer edge and interior dull white, marbled to some extent with livid blackish spots. In an immature individual, barely half-grown, the white of the eyelids, nose, and chin was tinged with dull pink; and at the exterior angle of each orbit was a bare spot of bluish-white, showing very distinctly, owing to its different tinge of colour, the skin of the face otherwise being livid black. With maturity these naked white spots at the angle of the orbits disappear. I kept this animal alive, intending to bring it home, but it succumbed to the severity of our return passage. It fed on the leaves of sweet potatoes and tapioca, and, although it had been recently captured, in a few days it was very gentle and timid. The breeding-season with these Monkeys is either very prolonged, or is not defined at all, for I obtained them in October, when the rains were beginning, in all stages, from a foetus three inches long, to half-grown specimens."