Every Tint Of Yellow, Ash, Brown, And Red Is Found
Here, And In Many Specimens There Occur Patches And Spots
Formed
of small black dots, so closely resembling the way in which
minute fungi grow on leaves that it is
Almost impossible at first
not to believe that fungi have gown on the butterflies
themselves!
If such an extraordinary adaptation as this stood alone, it would
be very difficult to offer any explanation of it; but although it
is perhaps the most perfect case of protective imitation known,
there are hundreds of similar resemblances in nature, and from
these it is possible to deduce a general theory of the manner in
which they have been slowly brought about. The principle of
variation and that of "natural selection," or survival of the
fittest, as elaborated by Mr. Darwin in his celebrated "Origin of
Species," offers the foundation for such a theory; and I have
myself endeavoured to apply it to all the chief cases of
imitation in an article published in the "Westminster Review" for
1867, entitled, "Mimicry, and other Protective Resemblances
Among Animals," to which any reader is referred who wishes to
know more about this subject.
In Sumatra, monkeys are very abundant, and at Lobo Kaman they
used to frequent the trees which overhang the guard-house, and
give me a fine opportunity of observing their gambols. Two
species of Semnopithecus were most plentiful - monkeys of a
slender form, with very long tails. Not being much shot at they
are rather bold, and remain quite unconcerned when natives alone
are present; but when I came out to look at them, they would
stare for a minute or two and then make off. They take tremendous
leaps from the branches of one tree to those at another a little
lower, and it is very amusing when a one strong leader takes a
bold jump, to see the others following with more or less
trepidation; and it often happens that one or two of the last
seem quite unable to make up their minds to leap until the rest
are disappearing, when, as if in desperation at being left alone,
they throw themselves frantically into the air, and often go
crashing through the slender branches and fall to the ground.
A very curious ape, the Siamang, was also rather abundant, but it
is much less bold than the monkeys, keeping to the virgin forests
and avoiding villages. This species is allied to the little long-
armed apes of the genus Hylobates, but is considerably larger,
and differs from them by having the two first fingers of the feet
united together, nearly to the endm as does its Latin native,
Siamanga syndactyla. It moves much more slowly than the active
Hylobates, keeping lower down in trees, and not indulging in such
tremendous leaps; but it is still very active, and by means of
its immense long arms, five feet six inches across in an adult
about three feet high, can swing itself along among the trees at
a great rate. I purchased a small one, which had been caught by
the natives and tied up so tightly as to hurt it. It was rather
savage at first, and tried to bite; but when we had released it
and given it two poles under the verandah to hang upon, securing
it by a short cord, running along the pole with a ring so that
it could move easily, it became more contented, and would swing
itself about with great rapidity. It ate almost any kind of
fruit and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to England,
but it died just before I started. It took a dislike to me at
first, which I tried to get over by feeding it constantly myself.
One day, however, it bit me so sharply while giving it food, that
I lost patience and gave it rather a severe beating, which I
regretted afterwards, as from that time it disliked me more than
ever. It would allow my Malay boys to play with it, and for hours
together would swing by its arms from pole to pole and on to the
rafters of the verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it
was a constant source of amusement to us. When I returned to
Singapore it attracted great attention, as no one had seen a
Siamang alive before, although it is not uncommon in some parts
of the Malay peninsula.
As the Orangutan is known to inhabit Sumatra, and was in fact
first discovered there, I made many inquiries about it; but none
of the natives had ever heard of such an animal, nor could I find
any of the Dutch officials who knew anything about it. We may
conclude, therefore, that it does not inhabit the great forest
plains in the east of Sumatra where one would naturally expect to
find it, but is probably confined to a limited region in the
northwest part of the island entirely in the hands of native
rulers. The other great Mammalia of Sumatra, the elephant and the
rhinoceros, are more widely distributed; but the former is much
more scarce than it was a few years ago, and seems to retire
rapidly before the spread of cultivation. Lobo Kaman tusks
and bones are occasionally found about in the forest, but the living
animal is now never seen. The rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sumatranus)
still abounds, and I continually saw its tracks and its dung, and
once disturbed one feeding, which went crashing away through the
jungle, only permitting me a momentary glimpse of it through the
dense underwood. I obtained a tolerably perfect cranium, and a
number of teeth, which were picked up by the natives.
Another curious animal, which I had met with in Singapore and in
Borneo, but which was more abundant here, is the Galeopithecus,
or flying lemur. This creature has a broad membrane extending all
aound its body to the extremities of the toes, and to the point
of the rather long tail.
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