Chapter 6

This monkey is one over which many naturalists have argued; it is synonymous with _Macacus speciosus_, _M. maurus_, _M. melanotus_, and was thought to be with _M. brunneus_ till Dr. Anderson placed the latter in a separate species on account of the non-annulation of its hair. It is essentially a denizen of the hills; it has been obtained in Cachar and in Upper Assam. Dr. Anderson got it in the Kakhyen Hills on the frontier of Yunnan, beyond which, he says, it spreads to the southeast to Cochin-China.

NO. 23. INUUS _vel_ MACACUS THIBETANUS. _The Thibetan Stump-tailed Monkey_.

DESCRIPTION.--Head large and whiskered; form robust; tail stumpy and clad; general colour of the animal brown; whiskers greyish; face nude and flesh-coloured, with a deep crimson flush round the eyes.

SIZE.--Two feet 9 inches; tail about 3 inches.

This large monkey, though not belonging to British India, inhabiting, it is said, "the coldest and least accessible forests of Eastern Thibet," is mentioned here, as the exploration of that country by travellers from India is attracting attention.

_GENUS MACACUS_.

Tail longer than in _Inuus_, and face not so lengthened; otherwise as in that genus.--_Jerdon_.

NO. 24. MACACUS RADIATUS. _The Madras Monkey_ (_Jerdon's No. 9_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Bandar_, Hindi; _Makadu_ or _Wanur_, Mahratti; _Kerda mahr_ of the Ghats; _Munga_, Canarese; _Koti_, Telegu; _Vella munthi_, Malabar.

HABITAT.--All over the southern parts of India, as far north as lat. 18 degrees.

[Figure: _Macacus radiatus_ and _Macacus pileatus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Of a dusky olive brown, paler and whitish underneath, ashy on outer sides of limbs; tail dusky brown above, whitish beneath; hairs on the crown of the head radiated.

SIZE.--Twenty inches; tail 15 inches.

Elliott remarks of this monkey that it inhabits not only the wildest jungles, but the most populous towns, and it is noted for its audacity in stealing fruit and grain from shops. Jerdon says: "It is the monkey most commonly found in menageries, and led about to show various tricks and feats of agility. It is certainly the most inquisitive and mischievous of its tribe, and its powers of mimicry are surpassed by none." It may be taught to turn a wheel regularly; it smokes tobacco without inconvenience.--_Horsfield_.

NO. 25. MACACUS PILEATUS (_vel_ SINICUS, _Lin_.). _The Capped Monkey_, or _Bonneted Macaque_ of _Cuvier_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Rilawa_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--Ceylon and China.

DESCRIPTION.--Yellowish brown, with a slight shade of green in old specimens; in some the back is light chestnut brown; yellowish brown hairs on the crown of the head, radiating from the centre to the circumference; face flesh-coloured and beardless; ears, palms, soles, fingers, and toes blackish; irides reddish brown; callosities flesh-coloured; tail longish, terminating in short tuft.--_Kellaart_.

SIZE.--Head and body about 20 inches; tail 18 inches.

This is the _Macacus sinicus_ of Cuvier, and is very similar to the last species. In Ceylon it takes the place of our rhesus monkey with the conjurors, who, according to Sir Emerson Tennent, "teach it to dance, and in their wanderings carry it from village to village, clad in a grotesque dress, to exhibit its lively performances." It also, like the last, smokes tobacco; and one that belonged to the captain of a tug steamer, in which I once went down from Calcutta to the Sandheads, not only smoked, but chewed tobacco. Kellaart says of it: "This monkey is a lively, spirited animal, but easily tamed; particularly fond of making grimaces, with which it invariably welcomes its master and friends. It is truly astonishing to see the large quantity of food it will cram down its cheek pouches for future mastication."

NO. 26. MACACUS CYNOMOLGUS. _The Crab-eating Macaque_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Kra_, Malay.

HABITAT.--Tenasserim, Nicobars, Malay Archipelago.

[Figure: _Macacus cynomolgus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"The leading features of this animal are its massive form, its large head closely set on the shoulders, its stout and rather short legs, its slender loins and heavy buttocks, its tail thick at the base" (Anderson). The general colour is similar to that of the Bengal rhesus monkey, but the skin of the chest and belly is bluish, the face livid, with a white area between the eyes and white eyelids. Hands and feet blackish.

SIZE.--About that of the Bengal rhesus.

According to Captain (now Sir Arthur) Phayre "these monkeys frequent the banks of salt-water creeks and devour shell-fish. In the cheek-pouch of the female were found the claws and body of a crab. There is not much on record concerning the habits of this monkey in its wild state beyond what is stated concerning its partiality for crabs, which can also, I believe, be said of the rhesus in the Bengal Sunderbunds."

NO. 27. MACACUS CARBONARIUS. _The Black-faced Crab-eating Monkey_.

HABITAT.--Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--In all respects the same as the last, except that its face is blackish, with conspicuously white eyelids.

FAMILY LEMURIDAE.

The Indian members of this family belong to the sub-family named by Geoffroy _Nycticebinae_.

_GENUS NYCTICEBUS_.

NO. 28. NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS. _The Slow-paced Lemur_ (_Jerdon's No. 10_).

NATIVE NAME.--_Sharmindi billi_, Hindi.

HABITAT.--Eastern Bengal, Assam, Garo Hills, Sylhet, Arracan.--_Horsfield_.

[Figure: _Loris gracilis_ and _Nycticebus tardigradus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Dark ashy grey, with a darker band down middle of back, beneath lighter grey; forehead in some dark, with a narrow white stripe between the eyes, disappearing above them; ears and round the eye dark; tail very short.--_Jerdon_.

SIZE.--Length about 14 to 15 inches; tail 5/8 of an inch.

Nocturnal in its habits; sleeping during the day in holes of trees, and coming out to feed at night. Sir William Jones describes one kept by him for some time; it appeared to have been gentle, though at times petulant when disturbed; susceptible of cold; slept from sunrise to sunset rolled up like a hedgehog. Its food was chiefly plantains, and mangoes when in season. Peaches, mulberries, and guavas, it did not so much care for, but it was most eager after grasshoppers, which it devoured voraciously. It was very particular in the performance of its toilet, cleaning and licking its fur. Cuvier also notices this last peculiarity, and with regard to its diet says it eats small birds as well as insects. These animals are occasionally to be bought in the Calcutta market. A friend of mine had a pair which were a source of great amusement to his guests after dinner. (See Appendix C, p.526.)

_GENUS LORIS_.

Body and limbs slender; no tail; eyes very large, almost contiguous; nose acute.

NO. 29. LORIS GRACILIS. _The Slender Lemur_ (_Jerdon's No. 11_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Tevangar_, Tamil; _Dewantsipilli_, Telegu. (_Oona happslava_, Singhalese.--_Kellaart_.)

HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Above greyish rufescent (tawny snuff brown: Kellaart); beneath a paler shade; a white triangular spot on forehead, extending down the nose; fur short, dense, and soft; ears thin, rounded (Jerdon). A hooped claw on inner toes; nails of other toes flat; posterior third of palms and soles hairy (Kellaart).

SIZE.--About 8 inches; arm, 5; leg, 5-1/2.

This, like the last, is also nocturnal in its habits, and from the extreme slowness of its movements is called in Ceylon "the Ceylon sloth." Its diet is varied--fruit, flower, and leaf buds, insects, eggs, and young birds. Sir Emerson Tennent says the Singhalese assert that it has been known to strangle pea-fowl at night and feast on the brain, but this I doubt. Smaller birds it might overcome. Jerdon states that in confinement it will eat boiled rice, plantains, honey or syrup and raw meat. McMaster, at page 6 of his 'Notes on Jerdon,' gives an interesting extract from an old account of 'Dr. John Fryer's Voyage to East India and Bombain,' in which he describes this little animal as "Men of the Woods, or more truly Satyrs;" asleep during the day; but at "Night they Sport and Eat." "They had Heads like an owl. Bodied like a monkey without Tails. Only the first finger of the Right Hand was armed with a claw like a bird, otherwise they had hands and feet which they walk upright on, not pronely, as other Beasts do."

These little creatures double themselves up when they sleep, bending the head down between their legs. Although so sluggish generally, Jerdon says they can move with considerable agility when they choose.

SUB-ORDER PLEUROPTERA.--FAMILY GALAEOPITHECIDAE.

There is a curious link between the Lemurs and the Bats in the Colugos. (_Galaeopithecus_): their limbs are connected with a membrane as in the Flying Squirrels, by which they can leap and float for a hundred yards on an inclined plane. They are mild, inoffensive animals, subsisting on fruits and leaves. Cuvier places them after the Bats, but they seem properly to link the Lemurs and the frugivorous Bats. As yet they have not been found in India proper, but are common in the Malayan Peninsula, and have been found in Burmah.

NO. 30. GALAEOPITHECUS VOLANS. _The Flying Lemur_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Myook-hloung-pyan_, Burmese.

HABITAT.--Mergui; the Malayan Peninsula.

[Figure: _Galaeopithecus volans_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Fur olive brown, mottled with irregular whitish spots and blotches; the pile is short, but exquisitely soft; head and brain very small; tail long and prehensile. The membrane is continued from each side of the neck to the fore feet; thence to the hind feet, again to the tip of the tail. This animal is also nocturnal in its habits, and very sluggish in its motions by day, at which time it usually hangs from a branch suspended by its fore hands, its mottled back assimilating closely with the rugged bark of the tree; it is exclusively herbivorous, possessing a very voluminous stomach, and long convoluted intestines. Wallace says of it, that its brain is very small, and it possesses such tenacity of life that it is very difficult to kill; he adds that it is said to have only one at a birth, and one he shot had a very small blind naked little creature clinging closely to its breast, which was quite bare and much wrinkled. Raffles, however, gives two as the number produced at each birth. Dr. Cantor says that in confinement plantains constitute the favourite food, but deprived of liberty it soon dies. In its wild state it "lives entirely on young fruits and leaves; those of the cocoanut and _Bombax pentandrum_ are its favourite food, and it commits great injury to the plantations of these."--_Horsfield's_ 'Cat. Mam.' Regarding its powers of flight, Wallace, in his 'Travels in the Malay Archipelago,' says: "I saw one of these animals run up a tree in a rather open space, and then glide obliquely through the air to another tree on which it alighted near its base, and immediately began to ascend. I paced the distance from one tree to the other, and found it to be seventy yards, and the amount of descent not more than thirty-five or forty feet, or less than one in five. This, I think, proves that the animal must have some power of guiding itself through the air, otherwise in so long a distance it would have little chance of alighting exactly upon the trunk."

There is a carefully prepared skeleton of this animal in the Indian Museum in Calcutta.

ORDER CARNARIA.

CHEIROPTERA.

It may seem strange to many that such an insignificant, weird little creature as a bat should rank so high in the animal kingdom as to be but a few removes from man. It has, however, some striking anatomical affinities with the last Order, _Quadrumana_, sufficient to justify its being placed in the next link of the great chain of creation.

[Figure: Sternum of _Pteropus_.]

"Bats have the arms, fore-arms and fingers excessively elongated, so as to form with the membrane that occupies their intervals, real wings, the surface of which is equally or more extended than in those of birds. Hence they fly high and with great rapidity."--_Cuvier_. They suckle their young at the breast, but some of them have pubic warts resembling mammae. The muscles of the chest are developed in proportion, and the sternum has a medial ridge something like that of a bird. They are all nocturnal, with small eyes (except in the case of the frugivorous bats), large ears, and in some cases membranous appendages to the nostrils, which may possibly be for the purpose of guiding themselves in the dark, for it is proved by experiment that bats are not dependent on eyesight for guidance, and one naturalist has remarked that, in a certain species of bat which has no facial membrane, this delicacy of perception was absent. I have noticed this in one species, _Cynopterus marginatus_, one of which flew into my room not long ago, and which repeatedly dashed itself against a glass door in its efforts to escape. I had all the other doors closed.

Bats are mostly insectivorous; a few are fruit-eaters, such as our common flying-fox. They produce from one to two at a birth, which are carried about by the mother and suckled at the breast, this peculiarity being one of the anatomical details alluded to as claiming for the bats so high a place.

Bats are divided into four sub-families--Pteropodidae, Vampyridae, Noctilionidae, and Vespertilionidae.

MEGACHIROPTERA.

SUB-FAMILY PTEROPODIDAE.

_GENUS PTEROPUS_.

These are frugivorous bats of large size, differing, as remarked by Jerdon, so much in their dentition from the insectivorous species that they seem to lead through the flying Lemurs (_Colugos_) directly to the _Quadrumana_. The dentition is more adapted to their diet; they have cutting incisors to each jaw, and grinders with flat crowns, and their intestines are longer than those of the insectivorous bats. They produce but one at birth, and the young ones leave their parents as soon as they can provide for themselves. The tongue is covered with rough papillae. They have no tail. These bats and some of the following genus, which are also frugivorous, are distinguished from the rest of the bats by a claw on the first or index finger, which is short.

Dental formula: Inc., 4/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/3--3; molars, 3--3/3--3.

NO. 31. PTEROPUS EDWARDSII _vel_ MEDIUS. _The Common Flying Fox_ (_Jerdon's No. 12_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Badul_, Bengali and Mahratti; _Wurbagul_, Hindi; _Toggul bawali_, Canarese; _Sikurayi_, Telegu.

HABITAT.--All through India, Ceylon, and Burmah.

[Figure: The Flying Fox at Home.]

DESCRIPTION.--Head and nape rufous black; neck and shoulders golden yellow (the hair longer); back dark brown; chin dark; rest of body beneath fulvous or rusty brown; interfemoral membrane brownish black.--_Jerdon_.

SIZE.--Length, 12 to 14 inches; extent of wings, 46 to 52 inches.

These bats roost on trees in vast numbers. I have generally found them to prefer tamarinds of large size. Some idea of the extent of these colonies may be gathered from observations by McMaster, who attempted to calculate the number in a colony. He says: "In five minutes a friend and I counted upwards of six hundred as they passed over head, _en route_ to their feeding grounds; supposing their nightly exodus to continue for twenty minutes, this would give upwards of two thousand in one roosting place, exclusive of those who took a different direction."

[Figure: Head of _Pteropus medius_.]

Tickell's account of these colonies is most graphic, though Emerson Tennent has also given a most interesting and correct account of their habits. The former writes:--"From the arrival of the first comer until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavours to secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbour from too close vicinage. In these struggles the bats hook themselves along the branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb, shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from all points, and, when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times before he makes good his tenure." For faithful portraying, no one could improve on this description. These bats are exceeding strong on the wing. I was aware that they went long distances in search of food, but I was not aware of the power they had for sustained flight till the year 1869, when, on my way to England on furlough, I discovered a large flying fox winging his way towards our vessel, which was at that time more than two hundred miles from land. Exhausted, it clung on to the fore-yard arm; and a present of a rupee induced a Lascar to go aloft and seize it, which he did after several attempts. The voracity with which it attacked some plantains showed that it had been for some time deprived of food, probably having been blown off shore by high winds. Hanging head-downwards from its cage, it stuffed the fruit into its cheeks, monkey-fashion, and then seemed to chew it at leisure. When I left the steamer at Suez it remained in the captain's possession, and seemed to be tame and reconciled to its imprisonment, tempered by a surfeit of plantains. In flying over water they frequently dip down to touch the surface. Jerdon was in doubt whether they did this to drink or not, but McMaster feels sure that they do this in order to drink, and that the habit is not peculiar to the _Pteropodidae_, as he has noticed other bats doing the same. Colonel Sykes states that he "can personally testify that their flesh is delicate and without disagreeable flavour;" and another colonel of my acquaintance once regaled his friends on some flying fox cutlets, which were pronounced "not bad." Dr. Day accuses these bats of intemperate habits; drinking the toddy from the earthen pots on the cocoanut trees, and flying home intoxicated. The wild almond is a favourite fruit.

Mr. Rainey, who has been a careful observer of animals for years, states that in Bengal these bats prefer clumps of bamboos for a resting place, and feed much on the fruit of the betel-nut palm when ripe. Another naturalist, Mr. G. Vidal, writes that in Southern India the _P. medius_ feeds chiefly on the green drupe or nut of the Alexandrian laurel (_Calophyllum inophyllum_), the kernels of which contain a strong-smelling green oil on which the bats fatten amazingly; and then they in turn yield, when boiled down, an oil which is recommended as an excellent stimulative application for the hair. I noticed in Seonee a curious superstition to the effect that a bone of this bat tied on to the ankle by a cord of black cowhair is a sovereign remedy, according to the natives, for rheumatism in the leg. Tickell states that these bats produce one at a time in March or April, and they continue a fixture on the mother till the end of May or beginning of June.

NO. 32. PTEROPUS LESCHENAULTII (CYNONYCTERIS AMPLEXICAUDATA). _The Fulvous Fox-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 13_).

Dobson places this bat in the sub-group _Cynonycteris_. It seems to differ from _Pteropus_ only, as far as I can see, in having a small distinct tail, though the above-quoted author considers it closely allied to the next genus.

HABITAT.--The Carnatic, Madras and Trichinopoly; stated also procurable at Calcutta and Pondicherry (_Jerdon_); Ceylon (_Kellaart_).

DESCRIPTION.--Fur short and downy; fulvous ashy, or dull light ashy brown colour, denser and paler beneath; the hairs whitish at the base; membranes dark brown.

SIZE.--Length, 5 to 5-1/2 inches; extent of wing, 18 to 20 inches.

More information is required regarding the habits of this bat.

_GENUS CYNOPTERUS_.

This genus has four molars less than the last, a shorter muzzle; the cheek-bones or zygomatic arch more projecting; tongue rather longer and more tapering, and slightly extensile.

Dental formula: Inc., 4/4 or 4/2; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/3--3; molars, 2--2/2--2.

NO. 33. CYNOPTERUS MARGINATUS. _The Small Fox-Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 14_).

NATIVE NAME.--_Chamgadili_, Hindi; _Coteekan voulha_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--India generally, and Ceylon.

[Figure: _Cynopterus marginatus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--General colour fulvous olivaceous, paler beneath and with an ashy tinge; ears with a narrow margin of white (_Jerdon_.) A reddish smear on neck and shoulders of most specimens; membranes dusky brown. Females paler (_Kellaart_).

SIZE.--Length, 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 inches; extent of wing, 17 to 20 inches.

This bat is found all over India; it is frugivorous exclusively, though some of this sub-order are insectivorous. Blyth says he kept some for several weeks; they would take no notice of the buzz of an insect held to them, but are ravenous eaters of fruit, each devouring its own weight at a meal, voiding its food but little changed whilst slowly munching away; of guava it swallows the juice only. Blyth's prisoners were females, and after a time they attracted a male which hovered about them for some days, roosting near them in a dark staircase; he was also caught, with one of the females who had escaped and joined him. Dr. Dobson writes that in three hours one of these bats devoured twice its own weight. This species usually roosts in trees.

NO. 34. MACROGLOSSUS (PTEROPUS) MINIMUS. _The Tenasserim Fox-Bat_.

NATIVE NAME.--_Lowo-assu_ (dog-bat), Javanese.

HABITAT.--The Himalayas, Burmah, Tenasserim, and the Indian Archipelago.

DESCRIPTION.--Ears half length of head, narrow and rounded at tip; face abruptly narrowed in front of eyes; muzzle long, narrow, cylindrical; lower jaw slightly projecting; eyes large; tongue very long, last third attenuated, covered with brush-like papillae; interfemoral membrane very narrow, especially at root of tail; fur reddish brown, and very long.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2-3/10 inches.

Like other _Pteropi_ this bat feeds on fruit of every description, but particularly attacks the various cultivated varieties of _Eugenia_ (Jamoon).

_GENUS EONYCTERIS_.

Muzzle long and cylindrical; nostrils scarcely projecting; upper lip with a shallow vertical groove in front; _index finger without a claw_; thumb short; part of the terminal phalanx included in the wing membrane; metacarpal bone of the second finger equal to the index finger in length; tail short and distinct; the base contained in the narrow interfemoral membrane; tongue long, as in _Macroglossus_.

Dentition: Inc., 4/4; can., 1--1/1--1; premolars, 2--2/2--2; molars, 3--3/3--3.

NO. 35. EONYCTERIS SPELAEA.

HABITAT.--Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--Head long; muzzle narrow, cylindrical, abruptly narrowed in front of the eyes; nostrils with an intervening emargination, which also passes down to the lips; tongue very long and pointed; ears conical, with rounded tips; body clothed with very short and thinly-spread fur of a uniform dark brown colour; the fur on the head extends only as far as the inner corners of the eye, leaving the rest of the face naked; tail half an inch. On each side, and a little behind the anal opening, are two small, kidney-shaped subcutaneous glandular bodies.

SIZE.--Head and body, 4 inches; tail, 1/2 inch.

Found in Farm Caves, Moulmein. The absence of the claw on the index finger is specially to be noted.

MICROCHIROPTERA.

SUB-FAMILY VAMPYRIDAE.

_GENUS MEGADERMA_.

Bats with simple or complicated nose-leaves or membranes. The conch of the ear very large, and joined together on the top of the head; tragus large and bifurcated; nasal membranes complicated; no tail; wings remarkably ample. They have four incisors below but none above, the intermaxillaries remaining cartilaginous.

Dental formula: Inc., 0/4; can., 1--1/1--1; pre-m., 2--2/2--2; molars, 3--3/3--3.

NO. 36. MEGADERMA LYRA. _The Large-eared Vampire Bat_ (_Jerdon's No. 15_).

HABITAT.--India and Ceylon.

[Figure: _Megaderma lyra_.]