2 LLOYD S NATURAL HISTORY. 



In the skull the facial region predominates over the cranial, 

 and the lower margin of the frontal bones are exserted to form 

 a thick prominent ridge over the orbits and nose ; the mastoid 

 process on each side of the skull, behind the ear, is very 

 prominent for the attachment of a muscle which assists in 

 opening the mouth and in swallowing their food. Strong 

 muscles also stretch from the back of the head to the spine 

 for the support of the head. The canine teeth are long, and 

 press against the anterior pre-molars of the lower jaw, the posi- 

 tion of which is modified or distorted by the pressure, thus 

 enabling these animals to crush and open hard-shelled fruits. 

 Their anterior and median lower molars are four-cusped, while 

 the posterior is markedly larger, and has five cusps and a 

 posterior talon. The carpus, or wrist, possesses the central (^j* 

 cetitrale) bone, and the fingers have their metacarpal bones 

 elongated. The caudal vertebrae in the species of this genus 

 are usually numerous ; even in the short-tailed species they 

 vary from fifteen to seventeen in number, the reduction in the 

 length of the tail being the result of a great diminution in the 

 size, not in the number, of the vertebrae. In the tail of one 

 species {M. inuus), however, they are reduced in number to 

 two or three ; in the same species the tail lacks the clievron 

 (or V-shaped) bones on its under side, as well as the processes 

 to which the muscles for its movement are attached. Most of 

 the Macaques have a throat-sac, which communicates with the 

 larynx under the thyroid cartilage, and which fills with air, 

 acting as a resonator to their voice. 



The Macaques are among the commonest Monkeys of India 

 and the East Indian islands. They occur also in Northern 

 Africa (Morocco), and in Gibraltar, across the Straits. East- 

 wards they extend into Thibet and Northern China. They are 



