720 PRIM A TES 



different species now under consideration, and to that it has been 

 attached ever since. 



The Baboons generally are distinguished from most other 

 Monkeys by the comparative equality of the length of their limbs, 

 which with the structure of the vertebral column adapts them 

 rather for quadrupedal progression on the ground than for climbing 

 among the branches of trees ; and some of them, like the South 

 African Chacma (C. porcarius), of which the skeleton is shown 

 in Fig. 344, live habitually among rocks, and are much less 

 completely frugivorous than other Apes. They are also remark- 

 able for the great size of their face and jaws as compared with 

 the part of the skull which encloses the brain. The Mandrill, 

 in addition to these characters, is distinguished by the heaviness 

 of its body, stoutness and strength of its limbs, and exceeding 

 shortness of its tail, which is a mere stump, not 2 inches long, 

 and usually carried erect. It is, moreover, remarkable for the 

 prominence of its brow ridges, beneath which the small and 

 closely approximated eyes are deeply sunk ; the immense size of 

 the canine teeth ; the great development of a pair of oval bony 

 prominences on the maxillary bones in front of the orbits, rising on 

 each side of the median line of the face, and covered by a longi- 

 tudinally ribbed naked skin ; and more especially for the extra- 

 ordinarily vivid colouring of some parts of the skin. The body 

 generally is covered with a full soft coating of hair of a light olive- 

 brown above and silvery-gray beneath, and the chin is furnished 

 underneath with a small pointed yellow beard. The hair of the 

 forehead and temples is directed upwards so as to meet in a point 

 on the crown, which gives the head a triangular appearance. The 

 ears are naked and of a bluish-black colour. The hands and feet 

 are naked and black. A large space around the greatly developed 

 ischial callosities, as well as the upper part of the insides of the 

 thighs, are naked and of a crimson colour, shading off on the sides to 

 lilac or blue, which, depending not upon pigment but upon injec- 

 tion of the superficial blood-vessels, varies in intensity according to 

 the condition of the animal increasing under excitement, fading 

 during sickness, and disappearing after death. But it is in the face 

 that the most remarkable disposition of vivid hues occur, more 

 resembling those of a brilliantly coloured flower than what might 

 be expected in the cutaneous covering of a mammal. The cheek- 

 prominences are of an intense blue, the effect of which is heightened 

 by deeply sunk longitudinal furrows of a darker tint, while the 

 central line and termination of the nose are a bright scarlet. Not- 

 withstanding the beauty of these colours in themselves, the whole 

 combination, with the form and expression of features, quite 

 justifies Cuvier's assertion that " il serait difficile de se figurer un 

 etre plus hideux que le Mandrill." 



