282 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



and obscurity of night. Notwithstanding, however, their 

 numerous sources of security, the Magots do not appear 

 to occupy any great extent of country. It is not ascertained 

 that they are to be found beyond the limits of Barbary, 

 and of Egypt, and the southern parts of Spain. The as- 

 sertion that they have been met with over the entire of 

 Africa, and in India and China, appears not to rest on suf- 

 ficient grounds. According to such accounts as are most 

 to be depended on, their principal abode appears to be in 

 the northern regions of Africa. 



In the great work of F. Cuvier, and G. St. Hilaire, the 

 Magot is attached to the division of the Macaques. The 

 muzzle is large and projecting, the eyes approximated to 

 each other, and deeply fixed in the head. The brows ex- 

 tremely thick, forehead narrow, short neck, powerful 

 canine teeth, and the body thick and muscular. All these 

 characteristics strongly bespeak the fierce and savage na- 

 ture of the animal. His feelings, of whatever kind, seem 

 generally to be expressed by a single grimace of a peculiar 

 nature. This consists in contracting the lips, drawing in 

 the cheeks and exhibiting the teeth. Sometimes indeed, 

 he may be observed to testify his satisfaction by moving the 

 lower jaw, and making a trifling noise witH his tongue. 



The Magot walks habitually on all-fours, but awkwardly ; 

 but, like the other quadrumana, it displays astonishing faci- 

 lity in climbing. To rest itself, it sits down, and when 

 desirous of sleep, it either lies down on one side, or re- 

 maining in a sitting posture it suffers its head to fall be- 

 tween the hind legs. It carries its aliments to the mouth 

 with its hands, or sometimes gathers them up with its lips. 

 It puts every thing which it does not know, or of which it 

 entertains any suspicion, to its nose for the purpose of 

 smelling it. It is easily habituated to take aliments of every 

 kind. In a state of nature it chiefly subsists on fruits and 

 leaves. The articles of food which agree with it best in a 



