I 34 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



twigs form a less important part of their food. In addition to this vegetable diet, 

 the chacmas also search for and devour various kinds of insects and allied animals, 

 such as locusts and scorpions ; the latter being carefully deprived of their stings be- 

 fore being consumed. Lizards and frogs are dainties less commonly eaten ; while 

 birds' eggs, together with various worms and grubs, practically complete the chacma's 

 bill of fare. 



These baboons are well represented in all menageries, where they thrive well. 

 When young they are fairly tractable, but their temper steadily deteriorates with 

 advancing age. 



THE ANTJBIS BABOON {Cynocephalus anubis) 



Although there existed for a long period much uncertainty as to their true 

 habitat, it is now definitely known that the whole of the five species of baboons re- 

 maining for consideration are, with one exception, confined to the western side of 

 Africa, and are therefore compatriots of the chimpanzee and the gorilla. It is prob- 

 able, indeed, as we have already mentioned, that it was one of the short-tailed kinds 

 that was met with in Hanno's voyage. 



The anubis baboon, together with the two following species, may be readily dis- 

 tinguished from the chacma by the circumstance that the hairy parts of the hands 

 and feet are of the same color as the hair of the back, instead of being black. The 

 general color of the present species is olive green, whence it is sometimes known as 

 the olive baboon. There is a small crest on the nape of the neck ; and the hairs are 

 gray near the roots, and ringed with black and yellow at the tips. 



The habits of these baboons appear to be much the same as those of 

 the other species of the genus. They go in troops, and inhabit rocky, 

 mountainous regions, being especially common at a place some two hundred miles in 

 the interior of Angola, known as the Black Rocks. Away from the river valleys the 

 country is arid in the extreme, and it is these thirsty districts which are the chosen 

 abode of the baboons. Here they subsist largely on that very remarkable kind of 

 West African plant known as the welwitschia. So remarkable is this plant, that we 

 may venture to briefly describe it. The welwitschia is a plant which in its earlier 

 stages of growth consists of the two ordinary seed leaves. These appear to grow 

 considerably, and extend horizontally outwards in opposite directions, raised but 

 little above the surface of the sand, whilst the intervening stock thickens and 

 hardens, assuming a somewhat conical shape, flattened at the top, and rapidly taper- 

 ing below into the roots. In time the original pair of seed leaves, having attained 

 their full size, and acquired a hard and fibrous structure, instead of dying, gradually 

 split up into shreds ; at the same time the woody mass upon which they are borne, 

 although rising but little in height, increases in width both above and below the in- 

 sertion of the leaves, so as to clasp their bases in a deep slit on the margin. Every 

 year several short flowering stalks are developed from the upper side of the base of 

 the leaves. Each of these stalks forms an erect jointed stem, dividing in a fork-like 

 manner, varying in height from six to twelve inches, and carrying at the end of 

 each branch a cone, with the flowers and seeds beneath its scales. The result is 



