56 SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



Guinea. It is said to be so powerful and dangerous an 

 animal that the natives are exceedingly afraid of it, and that 

 in particular it is given to ravishing the native women. But 

 it has been pointed out that these assertions are difficult to 

 reconcile with the fact that so many specimens have been 

 captured alive and sold to European shippers. 



However, we have it on the authority of Cuvier and 

 Geoffrey St. Hilaire, that the adult male in captivity in 

 Europe exhibits the most violent and continual sexual 

 excitement, often exhausting himself by excess, and actually 

 shows sexual inclination towards women, distinguishing 

 particular individuals among them by voice and gesture. 

 On the other hand, towards his keepers and men in general 

 he shows the greatest ferocity and rage, and is one of the 

 most formidable and dangerous of wild animals. The young- 

 male and the female are comparatively quiet and docile. A 

 remarkable and I think significant characteristic in the 

 behaviour of the mandrill, is that when not enraged it 

 obtrusively turns its remarkable buttocks towards the 

 spectator. Cuvier's description gives a vivid idea of this 

 gesture: "La partie posterieure du corps n'est ni moins 

 extraordinaire ni moins revoltante. Sous une courte queue 

 sans cesse relev^e est un anus entoure* d'un gros bourrelet 

 d'^carlate ; de larges fesses nues, que l'animal semble montrer 

 sans cesse avec autant de lascivete que d'impudence, sont 

 colorees d'un rose vif nuance sur les cot^s de lilas et de bleu. 

 Les parties genitales enfin sont d'un rouge de feu d'autant 

 plus tranche qu'elles sont absolument nues, et qu'elles 

 viennent a la suite d'un abdomen revetu de poils blancs." 



It seems to me we have here a degree of correspondence 

 between the habits of the animal, so far as we know them, 

 and the character peculiar to the adult male, which has a 

 profound significance. It is clear that the cheek prominences 

 are connected with the great development of the canine 



