William Thomas Blanford

“ It is scarcely necessary to add that to the recommendation of men so highly respected and so well known in the world of Science the publication of the present 'Fauna of British India' is greatly due, and that Mr. Sclater is entitled to the thanks of all interested in the Zoology of India for the important part he took in the transaction. I can only express a hope that the present series as a whole may be worthy of the distinguisbed support to which, in so great a degree, it owes its origin. ”

“ The greatest advance since Jerdon wrote, in our knowledge of Indian Mammals, has been in the orders of Chiroptera, Insectivora, and Rodentia, whilst the order with which, at the present time, our acquaintance is most imperfect is that of Cetacea.
In Sterndale's 'Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon,' published in 1884, the number of species is 482; but some of these are not found in British Territory, and several of the forms enumerated, now that better series of specimens have been collected, are no longer regarded as distinct. ”

“ Space does not permit the addition of a sketch of mammalian anatomy. The accompanying woodcuts of a lion's skeleton and of a dog's skull will suffice to show the names and position of the principal bones. For further details with regard to the skeleton the student will do well to consult Flower's 'Introduction to the Osteology of the Mammalia,' from which, by permission of the author and publishers, the woodcuts of a dog's skull are taken. ”

“ 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.
In all other respects the habits of this species, so far as they are known, resemble those of H. hoolock. The young, almost always one in number,—twins being as rare as amongst human beings,—are born in the early part of the cold season, and each sticks to the body of its mother for about seven months, after which it begins gradually to shift for itself. ”

“ Kelaart says that the latter is more intelligent and less mischievous; but, as already remarked, the two are probably mere varieties of the same species. M. pileatus is the monkey commonly kept tame in Ceylon, and carried about by jugglers and itinerant mountebanks for the amusement of children, exactly as M. rhesus is in Northern and M. sinicus in Southern India. It may be mentioned here that those who have only seen monkeys in Europe, and especially in cages, have in general a very imperfect idea of the intelligence, love of fun, and power of mimicry that these animals possess. ”

“ The lion-tailed Monkey, according to Jerdon, to whom we are indebted for the only authentic account of this animal in a wild state, inhabits the most dense and unfrequented forests of the hills near the Malabar coast in herds of from twelve to twenty or more. It is shy and wary. In captivity it is sulky and savage, and not easily taught. The call of the male is said (J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 283) to resemble the voice of a man.
As I have shown elsewhere (P. Z. S. 1887, p. 620) , this monkey is not Simia silenus of Linnæus, nor is it S. veter of the same author. ”

“ The white-handed Gibbon is said by Tickell, who observed both species in their native forests as well as in captivity, not to be nearly so light and active as the Hoolock, and to walk less readily. The voice, too, is quite distinct, according to the same observer, in the two species. The cry of H. lar has been rendered in musical notation by Tickell, who has given, in the paper quoted above, an admirable account of the animal's habits. It is usually found in parties of from 6 to 20, composed of individuals of all ages. ”

“ No trustworthy measurements of adults are recorded. An adult male skull measures 5·3 inches in extreme length, 3·7 in basal length, and 3·5 in zygomatic breadth.
Distribution. Not very well ascertained. Apparently this monkey is found in some of the hill-ranges south of Assam, and there is a specimen in the Calcutta Museum said to have been brought from Tipperah. To the eastward this form is found in the Kakhyen hills of Upper Burma and also in Cochin China.
Habits. Nothing is definitely known of this monkey in the wild state. It is said to be a hill species. ”

“ Face and callosities flesh-coloured, being bright red in adults at all times.
Dimensions. Head and body 22 inches, tail 10 without the hairs, 11 with, hand 41⁄2, foot 6. These are the measurements (by Hodgson) of a very large individual, doubtless a male. Females measure much less, body 16 to 18 inches, tail about 6 to 7. Skull of a male 5 inches long from occiput, 3·5 from foramen, breadth across zygomatic arches 3·55; of a female 4·3 and 3 inches long, 3·1 broad.
Distribution. The Rhesus is the common monkey of Northern India from the Himalayas to the Godavari river. ”

“ This is the common monkey, tame or wild, of Southern India, found both in wild jungles and in populous towns, where it pillages the shops of the dealers in fruit and grain. Jerdon says "it is the most inquisitive and mischievous of its tribe, and its powers of mimicry are surpassed by none." ”

“ Like most other Gibbons, the Hoolock is usually found associating in flocks, often comprising fifty to a hundred individuals, or even more. An old male, however, is occasionally found solitary.
Gibbons are thoroughly arboreal, and Hoolocks are almost, if not entirely, confined to hill-forest. They move chiefly by means of their long arms, by which they swing themselves for prodigious distances from branch to branch and from tree to tree. ”

“ When the animal is excited the tail is held in the form of an S. In Sumatra M. nemestrinus is said by Sir S. Raffles to be peculiarly docile, and to be trained to climb the cocoa-nut trees and gather nuts for its master. This can only apply to females and young animals; old males are very savage, and they are formidable animals from their size and strength. ”

“ If, as I hope, the present series of works is found useful by Indian naturalists, they will I am sure wish that the names of those who took the first steps in bringing the want of new Handbooks of Indian Zoology to the notice of the Government of India should not remain unrecorded. ”

“ The Mammalia of British India, inclusive of Ceylon and Burma, here enumerated and described, just exceed 400 in number. Jerdon's 'Mammals of India,' published in 1867, contained descriptions of 242 species; but the area as now defined considerably exceeds the limits adopted by Jerdon, who excluded from his work all forms peculiar to Ceylon or Burma, and to all countries north of the main Himalayan range, west of the Indus, or east of the Bay of Bengal and of a line drawn northwards from the head of it. ”

“ When captured young the Hoolock is easily tamed, and is, as a general rule, very gentle, docile, and good-tempered, exceedingly intelligent, and very cleanly in its habits. Some instances of savageness on the part of male animals have, however, been noticed. All the Gibbons are very delicate, and rarely live long in captivity.
But a single young is born at a time. ”

“ They are active animals, though less rapid in their movements, whether on trees or on the ground, than the Semnopitheci. Their food is varied, most of the species, if not all, eating insects as well as seeds, fruits, &c., and one kind feeding partly on crustacea. They have occasionally been known to devour lizards, and, it is said, frogs also. All have the habit of cramming food into their cheek-pouches for mastication at leisure, a practice that must be familiar to any one who has fed monkeys in confinement. ”

“ E. W. Oates, author of the 'Birds of British Burmah.' The Mammals remain to be described by the Editor. The greater part of the second half-volume on Mammalia is written, and much progress has been made with all other parts of the work, so that there is every prospect of the whole being issued in the course of the next few years.
The limits adopted for the fauna are those of the dependencies of India, with the addition of Ceylon, which, although British, is not under the Indian Government. ”

“ An adult male skull is 4·45 inches long from the occiput to the alveolar margin of the pre-maxillaries at the base of the middle upper incisors, 3·35 in basal length from the lower or anterior edge of the foramen magnum to the same, and 2·9 in breadth across the widest part of the zygomatic arches. ”

“ Here it is only necessary to say that they are divided into incisors, canines, premolars, and molars; that the three first-named are, as a rule, preceded in the young mammal by milk or deciduous teeth; that the upper canine is the tooth behind the premaxillary suture or in contact with it, and the lower canine the tooth that, when the jaws are closed, comes immediately in front of the upper canine; the teeth in front of the canines are incisors, those behind premolars and molars. ”

“ Males are dark brown above, the horseshoe-shaped crest, the lower back, and the upper surface of the tail black; sides of head and buttocks grey; lower parts, including lower surface of tail, light greyish brown. The tail is somewhat tufted, and has sometimes a bright ferruginous tuft at the end. Females are greyer and rather paler, and have no black on the head or back, though the tail is blackish above. ”

“ Within the limits thus defined are comprised all India proper and the Himalayas, the Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, all the Kashmir territories, with Gilgit, Ladák, &c., Nepal, Sikhim, Bhutan, and other Cis-Himalayan States, Assam, the countries between Assam and Burma, such as the Khási and Naga hills and Manipur, the whole of Burma, with Karennee and, of course, Tenasserim and the Mergui Archipelago, and, lastly, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ”

“ Most mammals possess two pairs of limbs like other normal vertebrates, and the terminal extremities of these limbs, with but few exceptions, are furnished with nails, claws, or hoofs. The thoracic cavity, containing the lungs, is completely separated by the diaphragm from the abdomen.
The class Mammalia is divided into the following subclasses:—
Of the subclasses the Prototheria or Monotremata are peculiar to the Australian region, whilst the Metatheria or Marsupialia are only found in the same region and in America (chiefly in South America) . ”

“ All species of Hylobates have a powerful voice, and the common name of the present form is taken from its peculiar double call, which is repeated several times. At a distance, the sound much resembles a human voice ”

“ The need for new and revised descriptive works had, for some years before 1881, been felt and discussed amongst naturalists in India, but the attention of the Government was, I believe, first called to the matter hy a memorial dated Sept. 15th of that year, prepared by Mr. P. L. Sclater, the well-known Secretary of the Zoological Society, signed by Mr. Charles Darwin, Sir J. Hooker, Professor Huxley, Sir J. Lubbock, Prof. W. H. Flower, and by Mr. Sclater himself, and presented to the Secretary of State for India. ”

“ Naturalists have differed as to the physical relations of Man to other animals, but most modern writers have returned to the views of Linnæus, and class Man with the Monkeys, but in a distinct family [1] . No attempt will be made in the present work to enter into the anthropology of India ”

“ W. H. Flower, Director of the Natural History Collection in the British Museum, for advice and information with regard to the Cetacea; to Mr. R. Lydekker for aid in preparing the account of the Ungulata; to Mr. W. L. Sclater for advance sheets of his Catalogue of Mammalia in the Indian Museum, and for notes on specimens in the Calcutta Collections; and to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, of the British Museum, for assistance and information of every kind, most freely afforded throughout the progress of the work, in connection with the Mammalian Collections under his supervision. ”

“ The majority of the species are very docile when young. They thrive well, and several of them have bred in confinement. The period of gestation is about seven months, only a single young one, as a rule, beiug produced at a birth. They become adult at the age of 4 or 5 years, but breed earlier. ”

“ It has generally but little fear of man, and may occasioually be found in native villages, though less commonly than the Hanumán. It is very frequently seen on the ground searching for food, and it eats spiders and many kinds of insects, especially Lepidoptera and Orthoptera, besides fruits and seeds. Flocks of this monkey are more frequently seen near cultivation, especially around tanks or amongst trees on the bauks of streams, than in forest jungle. ”

“ Tail nearly or quite as long as the head and body. Caudal vertebræ 22.
The skull is long, flattened over the brows, with the orbits much broader than high and nearly vertical. Compared with the skull of M. rhesus, that of M. sinicus is vertically much lower; thus the skull of which the measurements are given below is 3·05 inches in height, the mandible included, whilst a skull of M. rhesus one tenth of an inch shorter is, with its mandible, 3·5 inches high. ”

“ They descend hill-sides at a surprising pace, their descent being accomplished by grasping bamboos or branches that bend beneath their weight, and allow them to drop until they can seize the ends of other bamboos or branches lower on the slope, and take another mighty swing downwards. They also ascend with great rapidity, swinging themselves from tree to tree. ”