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Show 1900.] MAMMALS OF SIAM AND THE MALAY PENINSULA. 321 identified, labelled " Siam ; " it measured, head and body 24| (or 622 mm.); tail 31| in. (800 mm.). Mr. A. Balfour, Chief Engineer of the Siamese Navy, kindly gave me three skulls of Semnopitheci which he had shot near Ratburee, Siam; unfortunately I never had a chance of comparing them with skulls of known species, but they are still (or ought to be) in the Museum at Bangkok. Family LEMURID.E. 15. NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS (L.). The Slow Loris. Nycticebus tardigradus, Blanf. Faun. Ind., Mamm. p. 44. " Kukang," " Kongkang," and " Kongka " of the Malays. " Lemur " of the English in the Straits Settlements. Siamese. Ling-lom = " Wind Monkey." In Penang I got numerous specimens from natives, who said they had caught them in the hill forests ; I also got two individuals in Kedah. In the Museum at Taiping there are many specimens from Larut, Perak; these resemble in head-markings and colour Penang specimens of the variety javanicus. In the Museum at Kuala Lumpor are two specimens, probably caught in Selangor. Mr. Oldfield Thomas (P. Z. S. 1886, p. 73) has recorded a specimen collected at " Salanga, Junkceylon," by Mr. J. Darling, and one from Malacca collected by Mr. Davison. Ridley records this animal from Pahang (J. S. B. R. A. S. 1894, no. 25, p. 57) and from Singapore (Mamm. Malay Pen. p. 26).1 There are three Siamese specimens in the Museum at Bangkok. Colour (of a Siamese specimen). Head, neck, lower parts and inner side of the limbs, lower parts of the fore limbs, and hands and feet very pale silvery grey, almost white. Remainder of fur light rufous brown, intermingled with many silver hairs. A bright reddish-brown vertebral line, which gets narrower anteriorly and terminates on the forehead (and does not join the ear-patches or the eyes as it does in eight specimens obtained in Penang). The patch round each ear is light reddish brown. Size (of Siamese specimen noted above). d • Head and body 14| in. (or 375 mm.); tail (without end hair) f in. (or 20 mm.). Habits. In captivity these animals will live on bananas, mangoes, bread and milk, and live small birds, which they are singularly adroit at catching. At night, if left to themselves, they depart from their usual deliberate ways and climb about with considerable speed and activity. At one time I used to sleep in a hammock slung in a veranda close to a cage of Kongkangs, and when lying awake on moonlight nights had good opportunities of observing their habits. They could squeeze through the bars of the cage (^though I never made out how they got their bodies through such narrow openings as they were) aud roam about; usually they were back in the cage by daylight, sometimes they remained absent 1 Three of the specimens on which M . Alphonse Milne-Edwards founded Nycticebus cinereus (Nouvelles Archives du Museum, iii. 1867, p. 9, pi. iii.) were " pris aux environs de Bangkok." |
