_Macacus_, Lacép., Mem. de l'Inst., iii., p. 450 (1801).
This genus embraces a large number of species which are characterised by
having a thick-set body and short stout limbs, with the thumb set backward.
The muzzle is considerably produced and rounded, but the nose does not
extend as far out as the plane of the upper lip; the nostrils open in
advance of its termination, and are directed obliquely outwards and
downwards; their cheek-pouches are large, and their lips thick and
protrusile; their eyes are approximated, and look out from below thick and
prominent superciliary ridges; their ears are naked and applied flatly to
the sides of the head and their hind upper angle is pointed; their
callosities, which extend with age, are often surrounded by a portion of
the buttocks, which is always nude. The tail is long, short, tufted, or
reduced to a mere tubercle, and it may be quite invisible externally. Some
have the hair of the head long, and radiating in all directions; others
have the face encircled by a kind of mane. In some northern forms, the
whole body is covered with a woolly fur, as a protection against cold.
{2}In the skull the facial region predominates over the cranial, and the
lower margin of the frontal bones are exserted to form a thick prominent
ridge over the orbits and nose; the mastoid process on each side of the
skull, behind the ear, is very prominent for the attachment of a muscle
which assists in opening the mouth and in swallowing their food. Strong
muscles also stretch from the back of the head to the spine for the support
of the head. The canine teeth are long, and press against the anterior
pre-molars of the lower jaw, the position of which is modified or distorted
by the pressure, thus enabling these animals to crush and open hard-shelled
fruits. Their anterior and median lower molars are four-cusped, while the
posterior is markedly larger, and has five cusps and a posterior talon. The
carpus, or wrist, possesses the central (_os centrale_) bone, and the
fingers have their metacarpal bones elongated. The caudal vertebræ in the
species of this genus are usually numerous; even in the short-tailed
species they vary from fifteen to seventeen in number, the reduction in the
length of the tail being the result of a great diminution in the size, not
in the number, of the vertebræ. In the tail of one species (_M. inuus_),
however, they are reduced in number to two or three; in the same species
the tail lacks the chevron (or V-shaped) bones on its under side, as well
as the processes to which the muscles for its movement are attached. Most
of the Macaques have a throat-sac, which communicates with the larynx under
the thyroid cartilage, and which fills with air, acting as a resonator to
their voice.
The Macaques are among the commonest Monkeys of India and the East Indian
islands. They occur also in Northern Africa (Morocco), and in Gibraltar,
across the Straits. Eastwards they extend into Thibet and Northern China.
They are {3}also found in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and in Timor,
this being the most eastern habitat of any of the _Anthropoidea_ except
that of _Cynopithecus niger_. Dr. Blanford, in his "Mammals of British
India," says that the species of the present genus resemble each other in
their habits; they are found in flocks, often of considerable size, and
generally composed of both sexes and of all ages. They are active animals,
though less agile in their movements, whether on trees or on the ground,
than the Langurs (_vide infrà_). Their food is varied, most of the species,
if not all, eating insects as well as seeds, fruits, &c., and one kind
feeding entirely on Crustacea. They have occasionally been known to devour
Lizards, and, it is said, Frogs also. All have the habit of cramming food
into their cheek-pouches for mastication at leisure.... The voice and
gestures of all the species (_M. silenus_ perhaps excepted) are similar,
and differ from those of both the Gibbons and Langurs. Tickell notices this
in his MS. Notes, and gives the following details, which are worthy of
quotation: "Anger is generally silent, or, at most, expressed by a low
hoarse monotone, 'Heu,' not so gular or guttural as a growl; ennui and a
desire for company by a whining 'Hom,' invitation, deprecation, entreaty,
by a smacking of the lips and a display of the incisors into a regular
broad grin, accompanied with a subdued grunting chuckle, highly expressive,
but not to be rendered on paper; fear and alarm by a loud harsh shriek,
'Kra,' or 'Kraouh,' which serves also as a warning to the others who may be
heedless of danger. Unlike the Langurs and Gibbons, they have no voice, if
calling to one another."
The majority of the species are very docile when young. They thrive well,
and several of them have bred in confinement. The period of gestation is
about seven months, only a {4}single young one, as a rule, being produced
at a birth. They become adult at the age of four or five years, but breed
earlier.
In regard to the expression of emotion among these Monkeys, Mr. Darwin has
recorded of different species that when pleased they draw back the corners
of the mouth in a species of smile, become red in the face when angry, and
pale when afraid.
The term Macaque was given to these monkeys by Buffon, who took it,
however, from what is supposed to have been the native name of an _African_
species of Monkey, and misapplied it to this Indian group. _Macacus_ is
therefore the Latinised form of that word, which has now been applied too
long to be changed.