SEMNOPITHECl— CYNOriTHECI— CYNOCEPHALI. 



687 



a higher branch, and thus continue their headlong flight. In these perilous achieve- 

 ments wonder is excited less by the surpassing agility of these little creatures, frequently 

 encumbered as they are by their young, which cling to them in their career, than by 

 the quickness of their eye and the unerring accuracy with which they seem to calcu- 

 late almost the angle at which a descent would enable them to cover a given distance, 

 and the recoil to elevate themselves again to a higher altitude. The African Colobi 

 greatly resemble the Asiatic Semnopitheci, but differ by the remarkable circumstance 

 of having no thumb on the hands of their anterior extremities. The Cercopitheci 

 likewise possess a large tail, which is, however, not more or less pendulous, as in the 

 semnopitheci, but generally carried erect over the back. They have also a longer face, 

 and their cheeks are furnished with pouches, in which, like the pelican or the hamster, 

 they are capable of stowing part of their food. 



The tribes of the mangabeys, macaques, magots, and cynopitheci form the links 

 between the cercopitheci and the baboons. Their shape is less slender than that of the 

 former, their frontal bone is more developed, particularly above the eye -brows, and 

 their face is longer. They are all of them provided with cheek-pouches. Several of 

 the macaques have a very short tail, and the magots, or Barbary apes, and the cyno- 

 pithecus of the Philippine Islands, have none, thus resembling the large anthropo- 

 morphous apes, but widely differing from them in other respects. The Magot is the 

 only European species, and seems exclusively confined in that part of the world to the 

 rock of Gibraltar, though some authors affirm that it is found in other parts of Anda- 

 lusia, and even in the province of Grenada. 



The Cynocephali (Baboons and Mandrills) show at once by their Greek name that 

 a dog-like snout gives them a more bestial expression than belongs to the rest of the 

 monkey tribes, and that of all the simiae of the Old World they are most widely dis- 

 tant from man. In size they are only surpassed by the gorilla and the orang ; and if 

 in the latter the physiognomy becomes more brutal in its expression with advancing 

 age, this degradation is much greater in the baboons. Their canine teeth in particular 

 acquire a greater sharpness than those of almost every other carnivorous animal, so 

 that these malignant and cruel animals, armed with such powerful weapons, may well 

 be reckoned among the most formidable of the wild beasts of Africa. As if to render 

 them complete pictures of depravity, their manners also are so shamelessly filthy that 

 the curiosity they excite soon changes into horror and disgust. 



The short-tailed mandrills inhabit the west coast of Africa. The Maimon is the 

 most remarkable of the whole genus for brilliancy and variety of color ; its furrowed 

 cheeks are magnificently striped with violet, blue, purple, and scarlet, so as more to 

 resemble an artificial tattooing than a natural carnation. As the creature increases in 

 age, the nose also becomes blood-red. On the loins the skin is almost bare, and of a 

 violet-blue color, gradually altering into a bright blood-red, which is more conspicuous 

 on the hinder parts, where it surrounds the tail, which is generally carried erect. 



The real baboons are distinguished from the mandrills by a long tail, terminated by 

 a tuft of hair. The great baboon of Senegal ( Oynocephalus sphinx) is by no means 

 devoid of intelligence, and learns many tricks when taught from early youth. His 

 temper, however, is brutal and choleric, though less so than that of the Chacma ( Oyno- 

 cephalus porcarius) , or pig-faced baboon, which is found in the vicinity of Cape Town, 

 among others on the celebrated Table Mountain. It frequently commits great devasta- 



