56 



THE GELADA. 



So odiously disgusting are the habits in which many of these animals continually indulge, 

 that, as a general rule, their presence is offensive in the extreme, and excepting for purposes 

 of scientific investigation, it is better to shun the cage that holds any specimen of these 



creatures. 



There are now and then exceptional cases, but they are few and far between, and it is 

 hardly possible to watch an adult baboon for many minutes without incurring a risk of some 

 shock to the nerves. Even their exceeding cunning, and the crafty wiles which are hatched 

 in their fertile brains, cannot atone for their habitual offences against decorum. 



BABOONS. 



It is rather curious that in the preceding genera, such as the Cercopitheci, and the Cerco- 

 cebi, the chief characteristic from which the genus derives its rather lengthy title is founded 

 upon the tail ; while in the baboons, the systematic naturalists leaped at one bound to the 

 opposite extremity of the body, and took up their stand upon the head. 



For the introduction to science of the GELADA, one of the most singular of these animals, we 

 are indebted to Dr. Ruppell, who has gamed so well-earned a name in the annals of natural science. 



Together with all the Cynocephali, the Gelada is a native of Africa, Abyssinia being the 

 country from which our specimens have been derived. Dr. Ruppell, in his work on the 

 "Fauna of Abyssinia," places this animal among the Macaques. The adult animal exhibits 

 in perfection the curious mass of hair that is seen to cover the neck and shoulders of the 

 monkeys of this group, and sits magnificently placid under the shade of its capillary mantle. 



The young Gelada is almost totally devoid of this heavy mane, if it can be so called, and 

 only by slight indications gives promise of the future development. 



The general color of this animal is a brown tint of varying intensity. The body and mane 

 are of a dark brown, fading into a much lighter hue on the top of the head and sides of the 



