GENUS CYNOCEPHALUS. 



155 



smells every suspected object very carefully. Almost every kind of food 

 can be given it. In the wild state, fruits and leaves form its habitual diet ; 

 in confinement it eats fruit, bread, and boiled vegetables, especially car- 

 rots and potatoes. It drinks by sucking in. When enraged, its jaws are 

 agitated with astonishing rapidity, its movements become violent, and it 

 emits a loud and hoarse cry, which becomes rather mild when the 

 passion subsides. Its strong canine teeth, and its thick and long, though 

 flat nails, are capable of inflicting severe wounds. A natural fondness for 

 society induces it to adopt any httle animals which may be placed with it : 

 these are carried about, loaded with caresses, and cannot he taken away 

 without putting the Barbary Macaco in a violent passion. These ani- 

 mals have the highest affection for their young, which they preserve in 

 a state of great cleanliness. Their geographical range does not extend 

 eastward beyond Egypt. 



11. MACACUS NIGER — BLACK MACACO. 



Syn. SninA Nigra Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 98. — Fisch. Syn. Mam. 



Cynocephalds Niger. — Desm. Mam. Suppl. pi. 534 — Isid. Geoff, in 

 Belang, Voy. 



Macacus Niger (The Black Ape). — Bennett, Gard. Zool. Soc. I. 



. 189. 

 Icon. Quoyet Gaim. Voy. de I'Astr. Mammiferes, pi. 6, — pi. 7 (anatomical). 



Gray,' Spicil. Zool. pi. 1, fig. 2. 



SPECinC CHARACTERS. 



The Hair entirely black ; a tuft of long hair forming a crest on the top 

 of the head. 



The Tail tuberculous. 



Inhabits the Molucca Islands. 



The present species is arranged by the Baron Cuvier, Desmarest, and 

 others, among the Baboons (Cynocephalus) ; but it wants the terminal 

 nostrils of that Genus, and ought, therefore, to be considered as a true 

 Macacus ; at the same time it indicates the passage towards the Baboons, 

 to which in other respects it bears a near afiSnity. 



The hair on all parts of the body is of a pure and shining black, very 

 long and woolly ; that of the cheeks shorter, blacker, and more dense, 

 forming cheek-tufts, and the entire upper part of the head is ornamented 

 with a crest of hair wliich is very long towards the occiput. The callosities 

 are of a bright red. The face is broad and prominent, narrowed at the nos- 

 trils, and abruptly truncated, with the nostrils placed obliquely on the upper 

 surface. The projection of the muzzle is not disagreeable to the eye ; 

 and its countenance, unhke that of the Baboons, is agreeable and intel- 

 ligent. 



DOUBTFDL SPECIES. 



1. M. CARBONARios, figured in F. Cuv. et Geoff. Hist. Mam. under the 

 name of Le Macaque a face noire, appears to differ from the M. cyno- 

 molgus merely in having a black face. 



2. M. sPEciosns, illustrated in the work just mentioned under the name 

 of Le Macaque a face rouge, differs from M. cynomolgus only in having 

 its tail considerably shorter, and a brighter reddish tint upon the face. 



8. M. ARCTOiDEs (Isid. Geoff, in Belang Voy.) seems to be a variety of 

 the M. Maurus of Fred. Cuvier. 



GENUS IX. CYN0CEPHALUS2 BABOONS. 



Syn. Lbs Cynocephales et les Manhrills Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 97 and 



98. 

 Cynocephalus — Briss. Reg. Anim. (in part) Illig. Prodr Desra. 



Mam Isid. GeotF. in Belang. Voy. 



Papio (in part) Briss. Reg. Anim.— Eril. — GeofF. Ann. Mus. XIX. 



101. 



SiMiA (in part). — Linn. Gmel Fisch. Syn. Mam. 



Cynocephale Temra. Men. Mam. 



GENERIC characters. 



The Muzzle much elongated, and truncated at the extremity. The 

 Facial Angle from 30° to 35°. The Nostrils terminal. 



The Limbs very robust, and nearly of equal length. 



The Cheek-pouches and Callosities always present. 



The Hair wanting about the callosities. 



The Last Molar of the upper jaw with five, and of the lower jaw 

 with six, tubercles. 



lNHABiT_Africa and some adjacent parts of Asia. 



The Baboons have the teeth, cheek-pouches, and callosities of 

 the preceding genus, but in addition to these characters, their muz- 

 zle is very much elongated, and truncated at the extremity, where 



the nostrils are placed. The latter circumstance occasions their 

 physiognomy to resemble that of a Dog, rather than of the other 

 Apes. Their tail varies in length. 



These, in general, are large, ferocious, and dangerous Apes ; most 

 of them are found in Africa. 



From the particulars above mentioned, it will readily be perceived that 

 the Baboons approach more nearly in their characters to the lower orders 

 of Mammiferous animals than to any other Apes of the Old World. 

 With them the vertical position is rendered still more difficult to maintain, 

 and their habitual mode of progression is consequently on all the four 

 hands. The forests are not their favourite places of resort ; in general 

 they either prefer the mountains, or localities interspersed with hillocks, 

 rocks, and brushwood. Notwithstandmg the clumsiness of their forms, 

 they climb trees with much ease, and exhibit no small agility in their leaps. 

 Travellers notice, probably with some exaggeration, the danger which 

 females, residing in the neighbourhood of the Baboons, undergo from the 

 ferocity of the males. Negresses are said to have been forcibly carried 

 off by the Cynocephali, and even to have hved very happily with them 

 for several years, while the animals, detaining them in caverns, supplied 

 them regularly with provisions, &c. These statements derive their pro- 

 bability from the fact that adult Baboons exhibit the most frantic and 

 outrageous gestures at the sight of a woman, especially a very young one. 

 When visited by the latter in the menageries, they rush against the bars 

 of their cage, shake them with all their might, accompanying this violence 

 by the most terrific cries or disgusting gestures, which are heightened still 

 more if the object of their regard happens to be accompanied by a male 

 of her own species. 



All these animals attain a considerable size, which is nearly that of a 

 Wolf. When attacked, they defend themselves vigorously; but, though 

 ferocious, do not usually attack others, except at a distance, by throwing 

 branches of trees, or menacing them by their cries. Their dispositions 

 present a singular compound of passion and ferocity, blended with much 

 intelligence and cunning. In a few seconds, they pass from one extreme 

 to another, from indifference to the most violent passion, without any 

 apparent cause for the sudden change. Their fury, when in confinement, 

 is capable of rising to a pitch sufficient to occasion death itself. M. F. 

 Cuvier tells us that he has seen several expire firom the consequences of 

 their passion. 



Being without the elevated hinder limbs of most other Apes of the Old 

 World, tliey walk on all the four hands with greater ease, though far 

 from equalling, in this respect, the true quadrupeds. Their movements 

 on the ground are always constrained, their walk slow, and their run is 

 merely a kind of trot or shufHing gallop. Rarely they stand in an erect 

 posture, and advance only a few steps in this manner. During their ex- 

 treme youth, the agility with which they climb trees is remarkable ; in old 

 age, they usually continue resting on their callosities. Their chief food 

 consists of fruits and roots, with the tender leaves and young shoots of 

 certain plants. When about to eat, they always commence with filling 

 their cheek-pouches, and drink the fluid, by sucking inwards, like other 

 animals with long and moveable hps. These animals are said by M. 

 F. Cuvier to be " tres-lascifs, toujours disposes a I'accouplement, et, bien 

 differents des autres animaux, les femelles rcfoivent les males meme 

 apres la conception. Celles-ci, lorsqu'elles ne sont pas pleines, entrent 

 tous les mois en rut ; et cet etat se manifeste par un gonflement consider- 

 able, cause par I'accumulation du sang dans les organes genitaux, et les 

 parties qui les avoisinent et il est accompagne d'une veritable menstrua- 

 tion." Their growth is slow, and they do not become completely adult 

 until the eighth or tenth year. The females are smaller and milder than 

 the males. 



The Baboons compose a very natural group of Quadrumanous animals, 

 consisting of six well-authenticated species, which may be recognised at a 

 single glance by their terminal nostrils. They admit of being arranged 

 under two sections, distinguished by the length of their tail, the Proper 

 Baboons (Papions), with tails nearly as long as the body ; and the Man- 

 drills, with a very short tail. The dentition of all these animals perfectly 

 resembles that of the Macacos already described. Their tail rises up- 

 wards near its base, and the remainder, if any, not being susceptible of 

 muscular motion, falls perpendicularly downwards. 



(A.) Proper Baboons. (Papions.) 



Syn. Les Cynocephales. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 97. 



The Proper Baboons cannot be regarded as generically distinct from 

 the Mandrills ; at the same time, they are destitute of those singularly bright 

 coloured markings, which distinguish the latter from all other Mammile- 

 rous animals, if we except the greenish scrotum found in the Giivet, Ver- 

 vct, and Green Guenons, with the bright ultramarine of the Malbrouck. 



Gray, Spicii. Zool — Spicilegia Zoologiea, or Original Figures and Short Systematic Descriptions of new and unfigured Animals. By John Edward Gray, 

 bynocephalus (from -/.vau, hiwn, dog, and x,t(piiKYi, kephale, head) is a term well known to the ancients, and this animal occupies a prominent place in the symbolical 

 Ugures of the ^gyptians, where it represents Thoth or Mercury. —A'o^e of the Baron Cuvier. 



