Had “Jerry” been let alone, and had he remained in Africa at liberty, doubtless he would have in time headed his troops as patriarch and watchman, and would have led them in many an expedition against the fields of corn and the plantations of fruit-trees. For the Mandrills, in a state of nature, behave much like the other Baboons. They are, however, very fond of insects, large and small, inoffensive and venomous, and they lift up stone after stone in their search for them, enjoying Scorpions as much as anything else. Probably they can throw a stone, and this, coupled with their aspect, their assembling in troops to defy the farmers and watchers, and their attacking Dogs without mercy, has given them the bad character in the eyes of the negro race which they appear to have had from time immemorial. It is said that they annoy the Elephants so much that they will not remain in the same district; but it is doubtful whether the great proboscidean could flourish where the Mandrill cares most to live, for he is neither a forest nor a plain Ape, but, like the rest of the Baboons, travels far and wide from his rocky home. They associate in bands like the other Cynocephali, and behave as they do when plundering; but it appears to be true that the Mandrills are often found in small numbers, and that then they devote themselves to hunting for insects rather than to predatory excursions. Very little is known about their habits in the wild state in Africa, and it is evident that they are avoided rather than watched by the Blacks. [Illustration: MANDRILL.] Although, from the scantiness of reliable information regarding their habits when living at liberty, the Mandrill is of no great interest to the ordinary naturalist, still, the comparative anatomist, having had the advantage of dissecting both tame and wild specimens, considers this Monkey, which is ordinarily placed last in the scheme of the classification of the Old World kinds, of very great interest. For, placed low down in the Monkey scale, and remote from the man-like Apes, it approaches the flesh-eating animals, or Carnivora, in many points of its construction, and, if not exactly, still approximately, and in their general character. [Illustration: YOUNG MANDRILL. (_From a Sketch at the Zoological Gardens._)]