OCR Text |
Show 950 CAPT. T. HUTTON ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [Nov. 28, with a wide belt of mountain-forests between them ; and the Entellus, as previously observed, being entirely restricted by nature to the warm lowland regions below Allahabad, and to the right or southern bank of the Ganges, cannot very well ascend to the snowy ranges. The late Dr. Griffiths, who accompanied Captain Pemherton's mission to Bhotan in 1837-38, does not throw much light on this subject, as he merely says, speaking of the animals, " Monkeys, as usual, abound on the lower ranges, on which the Hoolock of Assam likewise occurs. Some long-tailed monkeys occurred above Bulphai, at 8200 feet above the sea; and in January I likewise saw a flock of noble ones not far from Tongsa, at an elevation of 5800 feet; these were white, and in form and size resembled the Lungoors"*. This is all very loose writing, and not a single species is determined- besides that the name of Lungoor is applied to more than one species, although Dr. Griffith being a Madras officer may have had the Entellus in his mind. The matter is thus left in doubt, and we know not to what species he alludes, to say nothing of the fact that neither the Entellus nor the Lungoor of the north-west is " white"*"**-, the colour of adults in the latter species being of a dark slate-colour, while the Entellus is of a rusty chocolat-au-lait. Moreover the north-western Lungoor is not by any means likely to occur in the hot regions where the Hoolock of Assam is common, especially when, in the latitude of 30° north, it does not descend lower than 2000 feet even in the depth of winter. Dr. McClelland, who visited Assam in 1839, makes no allusion whatever to the Entellus, although he notices the Hoolock and a species of monkey allied to the Rhesus, under the name of Macacus assamensis. All things considered, then, I am inclined to regard the species seen by Turner on the heights as neither the Entellus (which assuredly does not occur there) nor the mountain Lungoor, but a totally distinct animal, which Mr. Blyth has described in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xii., under the appropriate name of Semnopithecus pileatus, which " abounds on the skirts of the Tipperah hills, retiring far into the interior during the rains, and is common also on the Naga hills and mountainous regions of Sylhet and Chittagong." It is, therefore, by no means difficult to perceive that the next step would carry it to the adjacent region of Bhotan itself; and as Turner was no naturalist, he would in all probability have been deceived by a general resemblance in colouring. When speaking of the Entellus, Mr. Blyth remarks that M . Duvaucel observes, " that the appearance of that species in Lower Bengal takes place principally towards the latter end of winter ;" upon which, Mr. Martin notes that it appears to migrate from the upper to the lower provinces of this part of India. I can only state, continues Mr. Blyth, "that I have found them equally numerous in July and January in the particular locality adverted to, and I have seen them in June close to Calcutta on the opposite side of the river. * J. A. S. B. viii. p. 722. f S. barbei has shoulders and arms externally silvery ! |