MAMMALIA. Few persons are aware of the great difficulty that exists in ascertaining the species, and sometimes the genera of animals in an unexplored country, as these Provinces were some twenty years ago. At that time the rusa deer was, according to some authorities, a wild cow, and according to others, an elk; the gaur was a bison; the paradoxure, a racoon; the bamboo rat, a mole; the wild hog, a barbyrussa; the gymnura, an oppossum; the wild dog, a wolf; the leopard, a cheetah; a deer the nylghau; the goatantelope, a wild sheep; and we had "a goat with one horn resembling the celebrated unicorn," and twenty other animals which are now as really extinct in the Provinces as the mammoth and the megatherium, and for which one would no more think of looking than for the Dean of Westminster's pet, which he describes as "O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, In those days the jungle traveller was entertained at evening by the natives around the brush fire, with wonderful descriptions of the extraordinary animals, that peopled the surrounding forests. One was found exactly like an elephant, but never had tusks, and was banded across the body with white This proved to be the tapir. Another had a skin like a cow, a mane like a horse, and horns like a goat-the goat antelope. The third was half. a dog and half a hog-the sand-badger. And a fourth was represented as in a transition state towards a monkey, just such an animal as would certainly become a monkey in the next state; this was the loris. Since Mr. Blyth became Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society, by far the greater proportion of the mammalia of these Provinces and Arracan has passed under his ee; and to him we are principally indebted for our knowledge of species. The Pterodactyle. MONKEY TRIBE. Five species of Quadrumana, the monkey tribe, have been found in these Provinces, and the Karens have names for two others, a small grey white-eyelid monkey,* and a red-rumped pig-tailed monkey ;† but these may prove to be varieties of the other species. Arracan has two species that have not been seen in these Provinces. WHITE-HANDED GIBBON, OF LONG-ARMED APE. The first sounds that usher in the morning in the Karen mountain glens, are the wailing cries of the gibbons on the hill sides around. The whole of the interior of the Provinces is alive with them; and their habit of screaming as soon as the day dawns is celebrated in Karen poetry. There are all varieties of shade in their colouring, from tawny white to jet black. Hylobates Lar, Hylobates Lar, Hylobates albimanus, Ogilby. Linne, Mantiss. Vigors and Horsfield. Lesson, apud Martin. မျောက်လွှဲကျော်။ ( ချေးထိုချေးထား" Arrucan.) 6097095. magros. HOOLOCK GIBBON. The long armed ape of Arracan is a different species from the preceding, which is the only one that has been found in these Provinces. same native names. Hylobates hoolock. Both are called by the WHITE-EYELID MONKEY. This black monkey has a white ring around the eyes, which gives it a peculiar appearance, and is probably the negro monkey of Pennant. It is found in considerable numbers in the interior, but is not so numerous as the other monkeys, and the gibbons. Though heretofore regarded by Mr. Blyth himself, as identical with S. obscurus, he has recently written me that he now considers it the same as S. Phayrei, a new species, which he described originally from Arracan specimens. Semnopithecus obscurus, Reid. 66 leucomystar, Temm. summatranus, Muller. halonifera, Cantor. Lin. Gray. Blyth. S'mia maura? 66 Phayrei, (Tavoy. မျောက်ကွင်း။ (မျောက်ညို။ Tuvoy, Arractn.) 02085 08269l. BARBE'S WHITE-EYELID MONKEY. This monkey abounds in the forests of Yay, and is nearly allied to the preceding species. Mr. Blyth says: "It is intermediate between P. Phayrei and P. obscurus; but seemingly, distinct from both. There is no vertical crest, as in the former; nor is the occipital hair lengthened and conspicuously much paler, as invariably in the latter species: but the shoulders and outside of the arm are silvered in both specimens; and the under parts resemble those of P. obscurus. The tail is very slightly paler than the body; whereas in twelve adults of P. obscurus (lying together before me, at the time of drawing up this description), the tail is in every one much paler than the body.” Presbytes Barbei. FISHER MONKEY. This monkey is more numerous in individuals than any other species in the Provinces. It abounds on the seashores, and on the banks of inland streams, especially on tide-waters, where it appears to draw a large portion of its sustenance from the crabs, and shell-fish found on the banks. Hence the Burmese have named it the "fisher monkey," and when the tide is out, a whole troop is often seen issuing from the jungle to conchologize. Some are observed turning over stones in diligent search of shell-fish, others breaking up the shells they have found to get at the animals within; but most seem to be in search of small crabs, and wherever the trace of one appears, a monkey will thrust down his arm up to the shoulder, if necessary, to draw it out of its hole. Fruits, however, are as acceptable to them as shell-fish. On one occasion, coming down close in-shore at the mouth of the Tenasserim, a troop of them followed my boat for a con siderable distance, being attracted by the plantains that we threw out, which they picked up and ate with great avidity. The apes, that Solomon's fleet brought from Ophir, were probably monkeys of the genus to which this species belongs. They abound in Hindustan, and their Sanscrit name is kape. The Hebrews and Greeks appear to have adopted the name by which the animals were known in their native country, for they were called in Hebrew koph, and in Greek keephos, and kerbos, which Scapula says. was an animal of the genus simia, "having a tail-caudem habens ;” so they were not apes, as the word is used in zoology, but monkeys. Cercopithecus cynomolgus, Ogilby. Simia aygula, Simia attys, Macacus cynomolgus, Simia fascicularis, Cercocebus augula, Inuus cercopithecus, Linne. Linne. Schreber. Desmarest. Refles. Geo apud Horsfield. COALY-MONKEY. The coaly-monkey is common in Arracan, where it has the same vernacular names as the preceding species, which it much resembles. LONG-HAIRED PIG-TAILED MONKEY. This monkey is least common of all the species in the Provinces, but it is most frequently seen in confinement. It is found inland, but rarely if ever on the banks of It has been referred to the following allied species: The lemur, Bengal sloth, or slow loris, as it is variously named, is found in the Provinces, but is not abundant. The Karens say that were it to enter a town, that town would assuredly be destroyed. Waterhouse, Cat. Nycticebus tardigradus, Lemur tardigradus, Linne apud Raffles. Nycticebus bengalensis, Geoff. |