BABOONS. 



53 



recognized at the first glance by the want of 

 the tail, which is merely indicated by a small 

 tubercle of skin. The dense shaggy fur is 

 somewhat of a mouse-colour, inclining some- 

 times to browish-red, sometimes to, olive- 

 green, darker on the back, brighter in front 

 and at the sides of the face. The naked 

 parts are flesh-coloured. 



On the whole good-natured, and inclined 

 to frolic and fun, they are, at the same time, 

 easily irritable and courageous creatures, 

 dwelling chiefly on the rocks, and feeding on 

 fruits, juicy leaves, and, in particular, also on 

 the roots of the dwarf-palm, and often turning 

 up stones to devour the insects, millipedes, 

 scorpions, and even small lizards which they 

 catch under them. They are expert in ex- 

 tracting the sting from scorpions, but of 

 serpents they have a great dread. Sensitive 

 to cold, although they inhabit places where 

 snow falls every year in winter, they change 

 their quarters according to the prevailing 

 wind, a fact which has been clearly observed, 

 particularly in Gibraltar. The troop which 

 lives there was originally beyond question 

 the last remains of numerous flocks which in 

 Pliocene and Post-Pliocene times were dis- 

 tributed throughout the countries bordering 

 on the Mediterranean on the north wherever 

 the dwarf-palm (Cha7}uerops humiiis) was to 

 be found; but since that troop, notwithstand- 

 ing all the efforts of the English to preserve 

 it, has several times been on the point of 

 extinction, it has been replenished from time 

 to time by specimens brought from Tangiers. 

 The animals are, however, allowed to live on 

 the rock in perfect freedom. 



Baboons {Cynocephalus). 



Large, chiefly African terrestrial forms, with dog-like muzzle, 

 powerful limbs, and dentition like that of a carnivore. 



The giants of this genus, the gelada and 

 the hamadryas, attain when sitting the full 

 height of man, and appear smaller only when 

 standing, on account of the relative shortness 

 of the legs. Though scarcely any smaller 



than the gorilla they are inferior to it in 

 breadth of shoulders and chest, which latter 

 in the baboons is narrow and compressed. 



While in the young the skull is rounder 

 than in mature animals, though the muzzle 

 is from the first very prominent, in the old 

 males, as in the case of the anthropoid apes, 

 there are developed very marked crests and 

 ridges on the top of the skull and in the 

 upper part of the orbits; and frequently the 

 middle ridge, to which the powerful muscles 

 for closing the mouth are attached, is so 

 highly developed that it forms a conspicuous 

 feature even in living animals. The muzzle 

 is not only very protruding, as already stated, 

 but also rapidly receding at the sides, and 

 the dentition is fearful. The canines with 

 their sharp hinder edge resemble curved 

 daggers, the molars are laterally compressed 

 so that they become longer than broad, and 

 their tubercles acquire a cutting edge. The 

 body is powerful, so also are the legs, and 

 the thumbs and great toes are well developed ; 

 the tail is never as long as the body, and is 

 frequently provided with a terminal tuft ; 

 sometimes it is altogether rudimentary. 

 Founding on this character as well as upon 

 the position of the nostrils, which are some- 

 times at the end of the snout, sometimes 

 further back, some naturalists have divided 

 the genus into several sub-genera: Cynopi- 

 thecus, with nostrils far back and rudimentary 

 tail, comprising only the Black Ape (C niger), 

 the sole Asiatic representative of the whole 

 genus; Theropithecus, with similarly situated 

 nostrils, but with moderately long tail, the 

 sub-genus to which, the Gelada [C. gelada) of 

 Abyssinia, is referred ; Cynocephalus, with 

 long tail and nostrils at the end of the 

 muzzle, the sub-genus to which the Arabian 

 and the Common Baboon belong; lastly. Mor- 

 mon, with nostrils in the same position, but 

 rudimentary tail, the sub-genus of which, the 

 Mandrill (C Mormon), may be taken as the 

 representative. The more slender limbs and 

 body, and the somewhat arboreal habits of ■ 



