Chapter IV: The White-Handed Gibbon. Hylobates Lar

_Homo lar_, Linn., Mantiss. Plant., App., p. 521 (1771).

_Simia longimana_, Wagner in Schreb. Säugeth. i., p. 66, pl. iii., figs.
1, 2 (1775); Erxl., Syst. Reg. An., p. 9 (1777).

_Simia lar_, Bodd., Elench. An., p. 55 (1785); Fischer, Syn. Mamm., p. 12
(1829; in part).

_Pithecus lar_, Latr., Hist. Nat. Buff., xxxvi., p. 276 (1809).

_Pithecus varius_, Latr., _op. et loc. cit._

_Pithecus variegatus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 88 (1812).

_Hylobates lar_, Illig., Abhandl. Akad. Berl., p. 88 (1815); Martin,
Mammif. Anim., pp. 416, 433 (1841); Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., x., p. 838
(1841); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 10 (1870); Scl., P. Z. S.,
1870, p. 86, pl. v.; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 15 (1876);
Anders., Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 5 (1878; with full synonymy);
Blanford, Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm., p. 7 (1891).

{160}_Hylobates variegatus_, Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 5 (1820; young);
Desmar., Mamm., p. 51 (1820); Is. Geoffr., Zool. Bélang. Voy., p. 27
(1834).

_Simia albimana_, Vig. et Horsf., Zool. Journ., iv., p. 107 (1828).

_Simia variegatus_, Fischer, Syn. Mamm., p. 11 (1829).

_Hylobates albimanus_, Is. Geoffr., Zool. Bélang. Voy., p. 29 (1834).

_Hylobates entelloides_, Is. Geoffr., C. R., xv., p. 717 (1842).

_Hylobates leuciscus_, Cantor, Ann. and Mag. N. H., xvii., p. 338 (1846).

CHARACTERS.--MALE.--Everywhere deep black, except the face, which is reddish-brown, with the thick hair round it light grey or white, and the hands and feet, which are pale yellow or white; superciliary ridges, whiskers and beard, white. The hair on the fore-arm is nearly erect, with only a very slight forward inclination. The species is subject to great variation, and may be of all shades, from deep black to entirely whitish-yellow (_H. entelloides_).

Head round; the eyes large; the cheeks flat and depressed; the nose slightly projecting, its tip furrowed, and its nostrils small and converging; the upper lip is divided in the centre by a vertical furrow. In very young individuals the top of the ear is markedly pointed.

Skull with the orbital ridges larger, the muzzle shorter, and the teeth smaller than in _H. hoolock_; the second and third toes sometimes united by a membrane.

FEMALE.--Generally similar to the male, but more frequently entirely pale yellow, with the hands and feet paler.

DISTRIBUTION.--Aracan, Lower Pegu, Tenasserim, and the Malay Peninsula.

HABITS.--The White-handed Gibbon inhabits the upland {161}forests as high as 3,500 feet above the sea; living in troops numbering from ten to twenty-five. Its habits are very similar to those of other Gibbons, although Tickell observed that they were less light and active than the Hoolock, and had a different voice. It is said to drink, as the Siamang does, by dipping its hands into the water, and not to put its mouth down to it like the Hoolock. "So entirely does it depend on its hands for locomotion amongst trees," remarks Dr. Blanford, "that it carries everything in its feet. Tickell, from whom I take these details, says that he has seen a party of _H. lar_ escape thus with their plunder from a Karen garden in the forest." "The young are born in the early part of the cold season," continues Dr. Blanford, "and each sticks to the body of its mother for about seven months, after which it begins gradually to shift for itself."