78 



DOMESTIC PIGS. 



Chap. III. 



Eyton informs me that, since the publication of this paper, 

 cross-bred animals from the African and English races were 

 found by Lord Hill to be perfectly fertile. 



Some semi-monstrous breeds deserve notice. From the 

 time of Aristotle to the present time solid-hoofed swine have 

 occasionally been observed in various parts of the world. 

 Although this peculiarity is strongly inherited, it is hardly 

 probable that all the animals with solid hoofs have descended 

 from the same parents ; it is more probable that the same 

 peculiarity has reappeared at various times and places. Dr. 

 Struthers has lately described and figured 24 the structure 

 of the feet ; in both front and hind feet the distal phalanges 

 of the two greater toes are represented by a single, great, 

 hoof-bearing phalanx ; and in the front feet, the middle 

 phalanges are represented by a bone which is single towards 

 the lower end, but bears two separate articulations towards 

 the upper end. From other accounts it appears that an 

 intermediate toe is likewise sometimes superadded. 



Another curious anomaly is offered by the appendages, 

 described by M. Eudes-Deslongchamps as often characterizing 

 the Normandy pigs. These appendages are always attached 

 to the same spot, to the corners of the jaw ; they are cylin- 



24 'Edinburgh New Philosoph. Blainville's ' Osteographie,' p. 128, for 

 Journal,' April, 1863. See also De various authorities on this subject. 



