Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra25271894roya).pdf/49

 material or by hooks or recurved bristles by which they adhere to the fur and are thus borne away.

The following are the mammalia of the Malay Peninsula which eat fruit, and probably all act to a certain extent, as some do to a very large extent, as seed dispersers:—

Quadrumana:—Hylobates (Wau-Wau), two species; Semnopithecus (Lotong), one or more; Macacus, two or three species; Cheiroptera (bats); Pteropus (Fruit-bats), two or more species. Insectivora:—Tupaia, several. Carnivora:— Viverra (civetcats), several species; Arctictis (Binturong) and probably Hemigale; the bear Helarctos malayanus; Rodentia Sciurus (Squirrels), several, Sciuropterus (Flying Squirrels), Mus (Mice and Rats), proably [sic] several. In addition to these must be added the deer, the wild pig (Sus indicus), the elephant, and probably the wild ox (Bos gaurus) and the buffalo (Bubalus arnee), which disperse seeds of grasses and other herbaceous plants both by swallowing seeds in the herbage they eat, and by bearing, attached to their skins, the adhesive fruits and seeds.

Quadrumana.—The monkeys haunt the big jungles wander- ing about in small flocks and avoiding the open country. They live chiefly on fruit, and of these they generally attack the juicy or succulent kinds, although they will occasionally eat the chestnuts and other dry fruits. The commonest species in Singapore is the Kra (Macacus cynomolgus) and this is one of the most important of the seed-dispersing mammals. The fruits I have chiefly seen it devouring are those of various species of Eugenia, Baccaurea, Mangifera, Willughbeia, Dialium, Trichosanthes, Nephelium, Careya, Strychnos, Eleocarpus, Randia, Calophillum, Gardenia. And here I will point out that the fruits eaten by mammals are usually plain green in colour and inconspicuous, and frequently of considera- ble size, whereas those which are intended for dispersal by birds are often scarlet, orange or yellow, more rarely blue or white and small. The reasons for this arc, that the mammals move comparatively slowly through the jungle searching the fruit close at hand, for it is impossible for them to see far into the thick mass of foliage, whereas the birds moving more