6 LLOYD S NATURAL HISTORY. 



not impossible that the " Apes of the Rock " may have thus 

 been introduced. This is the only African (or European) 

 species of the genus. 



Habits. — This Monkey has been known to science for many 

 centuries. It is now certain, as M. Frederick Cuvier remarks 

 in his " History of Mammals," thanks to the researches of M. de 

 Blainville upon the Monkey dissected by Galen, that the 

 Pithecus of Aristotle was our Magot, as we know of no other 

 species of Macaque without a tail. The Barbary Macaques, 

 when on the ground, invariably walk on their four legs, but in 

 an uneasy and clumsy manner compared with their motions 

 when climbing ; they are far more at home in trees or rocks, 

 where they climb with amazing rapidity. They live chiefly on 

 fruits and leaves, feeding themselves with their hands, and 

 smelling everything they are uncertain about, before putting it 

 into the mouth. They also eat grass very readily. They are 

 found in large crowds in the forests of Barbary, which reach to 

 the sea, and are very destructive to the cultivated fields of the 

 Moors, on which they make constant raids, and during which, 

 like the Baboons, they post sentinels to give warning of danger 

 to their foraging friends. This Monkey sleeps on its side or 

 in a sitting posture with its head dropped between its knees. 



On the European side of the Mediterranean, these Apes 

 were at one time very abundant on the Rock of Gibraltar, but 

 as they robbed the gardens of the garrison they were killed by 

 every means for several years, till they were eventually reduced 

 to three. Orders were, however, issued by the authorities for 

 their preservation, and a few additional pairs were imported 

 from Africa. They now frequent the inaccessible ledges of the 

 Rock, especially on its Mediterranean face, on which they 

 climb about with marvellous rapidity. 



