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Show 622 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [Dec. 6, Cynoeephalorum nigro colore, totius corporis, & faciei praesertim, quae undequaque est caesarie magna pilorum nigrorum circumdata. Hilari & eleganti faciei sunt, admodumque cicures, mansuetae, Tidc tab. xxi. benevolae, atque fideles hae Simiae observantur. % Imaginem pictam quam hie damus, misit ad me Nicolaus Contrarenus Patritius Venetus maxime illustris, ad Simiam ex yEgypto Venetias deductam affabre pictura delinatam." Tab. xxi. represents an animal with a short tail, hairy body, and long hair all round the head. This figure has some resemblance to the Malabar Monkey, but quite as much to Cynocephalus hamadryas or Macacus (Thcropithecus) gelada or M. obscurus. Indeed, taking the description into consideration, the last may not improbably have been the species intended. The resemblance of this figure to that of Buffon's " Ouanderou " not improbably led to the two being confounded. It will be noticed that the quotation from Prosper Alpinus in Linnaeus, " Simia Callitriches magnitudine Cynoeephalorum," was evidently taken from the last quoted description. I conclude therefore that the Simia silenus of Linnaeus was distinguished by three characters, not one of which can possibly apply to the Malabar Monkey. These three characters were: (1)the size was equal to that of the largest Baboons ; (2) the beard was black ; and (3) the animal was an inhabitant of Egypt or Ethiopia. It should, however, be noticed that in the tenth edition of Linnaeus, p. 26, Simia silenus was described as " S. caudata barbata, corpore nigro, barba nivea prolixa." The only reference is again to Prosper Alpinus, but the locality is given as Asia ; Ceylon, Java, &c. It is highly improbable that the Malabar Bearded Ape was the animal indicated \ So far as I can ascertain, there is nothing to show that the Malabar animal was known to Linnaeus or to any earlier naturalist. But even if the S. silenus oi the 10th edition of the ' Systema' were founded wholly or partly on the Malabar Monkey, I fail to see how the name could be used for that animal, since the same specific term is applied to a totally different species in the 12th edition. A second Linnaean name that has been applied to the Malabar Monkey is Simia veter, Syst. Nat. ed. .xii. p. 36. This was thus described : - " S. caudata barbata alba, barba nigra, Brisson, Quad. 207. Simia alba s. incanis pilis, barba nigra promissa, Raj. Quad. 89. Habitat in Zeylona." Brisson's account (like Klein's, which is quoted by Brisson) is taken from Ray, but the page in Ray's ' Synopsis Animalium Quadrupedum ' is 158, not 89 (the latter is the page in Klein's work, which Linnaeus does not quote). Ray's description runs thus;-" Simia alba seu incanis pilis, barba nigra promissa. Ex Zeylona: Elawandum Zeylanensibus. D. Robinson e Museo Leydensi." It is impossible to determine this animal. It may perhaps have been a Semnopithecus; but no Ceylon species 1 It is very possible that the animal which Linnaeus intended to name was the Wanderu of Ray, Synopsis Animal. Quad. p. 158. " Cercopithecus niger barba incana promissa." This was doubtless Semnopithecus ccphalopterus. |