The Macaques. - 



-JIAMMAUA.- 



-TuE Magot. 



35 



disparagement, take .1 lesson from these diminutive 

 imitators." 



The bhimder is one of the few species of Simiadee 

 ■u-hich have produced young in our menageries, and, 

 under these circumstances, the female exhibits a won- 

 derful degi-ee of affection for her offspring. In a case 

 recorded at great length by M. F. Cuvier, the young 

 animal continued for the first fortnight of its existence 

 firmly clinging to the hair of its mother, with its mouth 

 constantly applied to her nipple, only changing its 

 position occasionally in order to cross over to the other 

 side, but constantly turning its eyes to watch every- 

 thing that occurred in its vicinity. At the end of a 

 fortnight the little creature detached itself from its 

 mother, and then, from the very first, exhibited an 

 address and precision in its movements which could 

 liardly have been anticipated. Still the mother watched 

 it with anxious care, always ready to assist it in any 

 difficulty into which it might fall during its gambols, 

 and clasping it in her arms whenever she thought it 

 was threatened with any danger. At the end of six 

 weeks, however, when the young one was ready for 

 more solid nutriment, this otherwise aQectionate mother 

 displayed a singular amount of selfish greediness, driv- 

 ing her offspring away from the front of the cage when- 

 ever their food was put in, so that it was only by stealth 

 that the poor little beast contrived to secure a share of 

 what was going. 



Several other species of macaques inhabit the con- 

 tinent of Asia and its islands; but amongst tliese we shall 

 only mention the UusiNE Macaque {M. Ursiims), and 

 the Eed-faced Macaque (Hf. Sjjcciosns), in which 

 (he tail is reduced to a mere tubercle, and the Black 

 Macaque {Macaais Niger), in which there is no trace 

 of that appendage. The second of these species is 

 remarkable as being the only monkey inhabiting Japan; 

 and the third presents some peculiar characters, which 

 have caused it to be raised to the rank of a distinct 

 genus, under the name of Cynopithccus. 



THE MAGOT {Tiimis Sylvaniis), or Barbary Ape, 

 as it is frequently called, is the last species of the group 

 of macaques to which we shall refer ; it is remarkable 

 as being the only monkey found in Europe. It differs 

 from the rest of the macaques in having the posterior 

 tubercle of the hindmost molar in the lower jaw divided 

 into three parts by two little furrows, and from nearly 

 all of them by the total absence of a tail. 



The magot, when full grown, stands between three 

 and four feet in height, and is of a robust form. The 

 general colour of its fur is a yellowish olive-green, pale 

 or greyish beneath ; the face is of a dingy flesh-colour, 

 much wrinkled, and marked with irregular brown spots; 

 and the hairs surrounding the face are of a dirty grey. 

 It usually goes on all fours, and appears to prefer rocky 

 and mountainous districts for its habitation, where this 

 quadruped mode of progression is the most practicable 

 one. In its character it closely resembles the other 

 macaques, being lively, intelligent, and docilo when 

 young, but becoming morose and intractable with 

 increasing years. The vivacity and playfulness of the 

 yoimg and lialf-grown animals, have always rendered 

 them great favourites with the itinerant sliowmon of 

 Europe, and the magot has been well known in this 



way from time immemorial. He has, however, another 

 and still more important claim upon our attention : 

 during the long series of years when the dissection of 

 the human body was strictly prohibited, the anatomists 

 of Europe derived all their notions of anatomy from 

 the structure of this animal. Galen's description of 

 the anatomy of man was almost entirely drawn from 

 his dissections of the magot ; and many years after- 

 wards, when Vesalius published his great and valuable 

 work, " De corporis humani fabrica," the surgeons of 

 the old school refused to accept the new views therein 

 brought forward, and adhered resolutely to Galen in all 

 points when there was a difference between the state- 

 ments of the rival anatomists. Some of the most 

 distinguished physicians of the sixteenth century actu- 

 ally wrote treatises in support of the old notions ; and 

 it was not until Camper, two centuries later, proved 

 that Galen's descriptions applied only to the magot, that 

 we may consider the question to have been finally 

 settled. 



The chief home of the magot is in the mountainous 

 parts of Northern Africa, in Algeria, and Morocco, 

 where these animals reside in the forests in large troops, 

 and are said to attack and drive away the beasts of 

 prey which intrude upon their domains, although no 

 doubt they often fall a prey to the leopard, and some 

 of the smaller cats which abound in Northern Africa, 

 and which, by the facility with which they climb 

 trees, may easily steal upon them unawares during the 

 night. Their food in a state of nature, according to 

 M. Desfontaines, consists of " pine-cones, chestnuts, 

 figs, melons, pistachio nuts, and vegetables, which tliey 

 carry off from the gardens of the Arabs, notwithstand- 

 ing all the pains they take to exclude these mischievous 

 animals. While tliey are committing their thefts, two 

 or three mount to the summits of the trees and of the 

 highest rocks to keep watch, and as soon as these 

 sentinels see any one or hear a noise, they utter a cry 

 of warning, and immediately the whole troop takes to 

 flight, carrying off whatever they have been able to 

 lay their hands on." M. Desfontaines adds, that " in 

 the wild state, they generally bring forth only a single 

 young one, which, almost as soon as it is born, mounts 

 on the back of its mother, embraces her neck with its 

 arms, and is thus transported in safety from place to 

 place ; sometimes, however, it remains firmly attached 

 to the breast." 



The origin of the colony of this species, which still 

 lives upon the rock of Gibraltar under the special pro- 

 tection of the English garrison, has frequently been a 

 subject of discussion; some naturalists thinking that the 

 species must have been imported into the south of 

 Spain, as some of its Eastern allies have been into the 

 Mauritius. It would appear, however, that the extreme 

 southern part of the Spanish peninsula harbours a 

 considerable number of terrestrial animals, which arc 

 otherwise peculiar to the opposite shores of Africa; 

 and, according to some authors, the magot itself occurs 

 in a wild state upon other mountains of Andalusia, 

 and even of Granada. Ancient writers also are silent 

 with regard to the occurrence of their Pithccus, which 

 was undoubtedly the present species, in any other part 

 of Europe ; although Procopius, a Greek writer of tho 



