Chapter XXVI: The Black-Footed Langur. Semnopithecus Nigripes

_Semnopithecus nigripes_, A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. vi., p. 7
(1871); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 32 (1876); Anderson, Zool. Res.
Exped. Yun-nan, p. 4 (1878).

CHARACTERS.--Similar to _S. nemæus_, but differing in having the posterior limbs black, and the fore-arms grizzled, instead of white. The whiskers are short and black, the body more slender, longer, and entirely white. The hind-limbs are also more elongated. Both sexes are alike; and the young differ little from the adults.

The brain-case is depressed, the face short, and the inter-orbital swelling peculiar to so many of the crested _Semnopitheci_, is wanting.

DISTRIBUTION.--Saigon in Cochin-China, and the forests bordering the Mekong river towards its mouth.

{136}XXVII. THE BLACK-CRESTED LANGUR. SEMNOPITHECUS MELANOLOPHUS.

_Simia melalophus_, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc., xiii., p. 244 (1821).

_Semnopithecus melalophus_ (Le Cimepaye), F. Cuv., Hist. Nat., Mammif.,
livr. xxx. (July, 1821); Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc., xxii., p. 245 (1822);
Desmar., Dict. Sc. Nat., xlviii., p. 38 (1827); Martin, Mammif. Anim., p.
470 (1841); Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 16 (1851); Gray, Cat.
Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 16 (1870); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 43
(1876; in part); Anders., Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 34 (with full
synonymy; 1878).

_Semnopithecus flavimanus_, Lesson, Cent. Zool., p. 109, pl. xl. (1830);
Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 16 (1851).

_Semnopithecus sumatranus_, var. _auratus_ (nec Geoffr.), Müller and
Schl. Verhandl., pl. x. _bis_, fig. 2 (1839-44).

_Presbytes melanophus_, Gray, Hand. List Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 2 (1843).

_Presbytes flavimana_, Gray, _t.c._, p. 2 (1843).

_Semnopithecus nobilis_, Gervais, Hist. Nat., Mammif., p. 63 (1854);
Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 17 (1870).

_Semnopithecus ferrugineus_, Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 42 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Head crested; the crest dark-brown, tipped with dusky; forehead pale yellow; a line from the outer corner of the eye to the ear, dark brown; back, sides, and shoulders reddish, washed with pale brown; the rest of the fore-limbs, the whole of the hind-limbs, and the tail, orange-red. Length of body, 18 inches; of tail, 32 inches.

The golden variety (_S. auritus_) from Sumatra, is generally yellowish-red throughout.

{137}The skulls present a good deal of variation in the form of the internal orbital angles of the frontal, and in the occipital, bones.

DISTRIBUTION.--Sumatra: Padang, Indrapoera, Bencoolen, Palembang, and the Lampongs.

HABITS.--The "Simpai," as the Malays call this Langur, is very abundant in Sumatra, where the present writer has obtained it both in the north of the Palembang Presidency and in the south of the Lampongs. It is undoubtedly in part to this species that Dr. Wallace refers in his "Malay Archipelago," when, at Lobo Raman, he says that they frequented the trees overhanging the guard-house in which he was staying. "Two species of _Semnopithecus_ were most plentiful--Monkeys of a slender form and long tails. Not being much shot at, they are rather bold, and remain quite unconcerned when natives alone are present, but when I came out to look at them, they would stare for a minute or two and then make off. They take tremendous leaps from the branches of one tree to those of another a little lower, and it is very amusing when one strong leader takes a bold jump, to see the others following with more or less trepidation; and it often happens that one or two of the last seem quite unable to make up their minds to leap till the rest disappear, when, as if in desperation at being left alone, they throw themselves frantically into the air, and often go crashing through the slender branches and fall to the ground."