Characters.—Very similar to C. guereza, but "characterised by having the white brush of the tail very much larger and finer than is the case in the true Abyssinian C. guereza. In the latter animal the proximal 12-16 inches of the tail is short-haired and quite black, only the terminal 8-12 inches being white and tufted, so that the white mantle hangs down from the body and hides only about one-third of the black part of the tail." (Oldfield Thomas.) In Colobus caudatus, Mr. Thomas adds, only some three or four inches of the base of the tail are black, and the remainder (with the hairs about 20 or 21 inches) is developed into a magnificent white brush, of which individual hairs are from seven to nine inches in length. The hairs of the white body-mantle—washed like the tail with yellowish cream-colour—entirely cover the black at the base of the tail, the white of the latter and of the mantle being quite continuous.
Distribution.—East Africa; very common all round the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, as Mr. Johnston—who discovered the species—reports. On Mount Kenia Dr. Gregory, of the British Museum, during his adventurous and remarkable journey, met with it at a great altitude. It has also been found at Kisongo, south-east of Lake Victoria and in Uniamuezi, where Sir Richard Burton obtained it.
Habits.—The habits of the White-tailed Guereza are very similar to those of the foregoing; but it would appear to be much more of a mountain-loving animal than the latter. A creature so strikingly—even glaringly—ornamented might be supposed to be a very conspicuous object among its native forests. Dr. Gregory, however, has informed the present writer that, notwithstanding its distinctive coloration when examined in the hand, he found it very difficult to detect it in its home amid the forest-trees at high altitudes, where all the branches are clothed with long grey-beard lichens, with which its fur very closely harmonizes. Mr. H. H. Johnston, in describing Mandara's soldiers, says: "On their heads were crescents made of ostrich feathers, or caps of the Colobus Monkey-skin. This last-mentioned animal also supplied them with mantles of long black and white fur, and contributed the heavily-plumed tails which these Çaga soldiers fixed on to that portion of their body where tails should rightly appear, if man had not dispensed with such appendages."
"The 'Polume,' as Dr. Livingstone calls this species, is in Uniamuezi known as the 'Mbega,' and is admired on account of its polished black skin and snowy-white mane. It is a cleanly animal, ever occupied in polishing its beautiful garb, which, according to the Arabs, it tears to pieces when wounded, lest the hunter should profit by it. The 'Mbega' lives in trees, seldom descending to the ground, and feeds upon fruits and young leaves." (Burton.)
THE LANGURS. GENUS SEMNOPITHECUS.
Semnopithecus, F. Cuv., Hist. Nat. Mammif. (1821).
Presbytis, Eschsch. Kotzeb. Entdeck. Reis., iii., p. 196 (1821).
The members of this genus have thin and elongated bodies, long limbs, and a very long and slender tail. The head is rounded, and shorter than in the Guenons; the muzzle short, depressed, and but little prominent. The thumb, although shorter than that digit among the Guenons and Macaques, is present in all the species, and forms a good prehensile finger with a flat nail. The hands and feet are long and narrow, and the finger-nails convex; the great-toe is thick and well-developed. The callosities are small as compared with the Guenons; the fur is abundant, and generally long, soft, and often glossy; and over the eyes they have usually a ridge of stiff hairs projecting in front. The members of this genus, as already observed, have no cheek-pouches; they have, however, a large laryngeal sac formed and situated as described above (p. [84]).
The skull is round; the eye-sockets large, with a very prominent superciliary ridge projecting over them; the space between the eyes is broad, and the lower jaw is deep. The upper molars are four-cusped, and the posterior lower molar five-cusped.
The Langurs are, when young, good tempered and easily tamed; but when old they become sulky and ill-natured. They live chiefly in forest regions, in troops of considerable size. "This genus is spread over almost the whole of the Oriental region wherever the forests are extensive. They extend along the Himalayas to beyond Simla, where a species has been observed at an altitude of 11,000 feet, playing among fir-trees laden with snow-wreaths. On the west side of India they are not found to the north of the 14th parallel of latitude. On the east they extend into Arakan, and to Borneo and Java, but not apparently into Cambodia. Along the eastern extension of the Himalayas they again occur in Eastern Thibet, a remarkable species (S. roxellana) having been discovered at Moupin (about lat. 32° N.), in the highest forests, where the winters are severe and where the vegetation is wholly that of the Palæarctic region." (Wallace.)