Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Mammalia).djvu/60

24 extending to the forehead, but a specimen from Travancore in the British Museum has rough hair like M. pileatus devoid of annulation, and an unusually long topknot.

Habits. Very similar to those of other members of the genus. 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." I do not think that it can excel M. rhesus in inquisitiveness and mischief, but I believe that it is, on the whole, more docile.  


 * Simia pileata, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i, pt. 1, p. 53 (1800).
 * Macacus sinicus, Kelaart, Prod. p. 8, nec Linn.
 * Macacus pileatus, Blyth, Cat. p. 9; Anderson, An. Zool. Res. p. 91; id. Cat. p. 61.

Raláwa, Cingalese.

Hair rather long, wavy and rough, that of the crown forming a topknot radiating from the vertex, and considerably lengthened, extending in front nearly to the eyebrows. Tail nearly as long as head and body. Caudal vertebæ 24. The skull is similar to that of M. sinicus.

Colour. Rufous or yellowish brown above, white or whitish below. The upper surface of the tail, hands, and feet sometimes more dusky. Fur hair-brown at base, tipped and sometimes annulated with rufous or yellow. Face and callosities flesh-coloured. Ears, palms, and soles dusky.

Dimensions. Head and body of an adult male 21 inches, tail 18 (Kelaart). Schlegel gives 20 and 23 inches, probably from skins. A male adult skull is 4·9 inches in extreme length, 3·5 in zygomatic breadth.

According to Kelaart the present form is of less robust make and smaller size than the Southern Indian form, but it is very doubtful if there is any constant difference. For my own part, I doubt if the two are entitled to specific distinction.

Distribution. Ceylon, throughout the island.

Habits. Precisely the same as those of M. sinicus. 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.