CiiAP. XVII. 



MEANS OF DEP'ENCE. 



265 



if the head were held a little laterally, serve as an 

 excellent guard ; and hence, perhaps it is that in 

 old animals thev " are generally broken off, as if by 



Here, then, we have the curious case of 



" ficrht 



o 



HJg. 



"36 



the upper tusks of the Babirusa regularly assuming 

 during the prime of life, a structure which apparently 

 renders them fitted only for defence ; whilst in the Euro- 

 pean boar the lower and opposite tusks assume in a less 

 degree and only during old age nearly the same form, 

 and then serve in like manner solely for defence. 



Fig. 65. Head of ^Ethiopian AVart-hog, from ' Proc. Zool. Soc' 1S69. (I now find that 

 this drawing represents the head of a female, but it serves to shew, on a reduced 

 scale, the characters of the male.) 



In the wart-hog (Phacochoerus mtliiopicus, fig. 65) 

 the tusks in the upper jaw of the male curve upwards 

 during the prime of life, and -from being pointed, 

 serve as formidable weapons. The tusks in the lower 

 jaw are sharper than those in the upper, but from their 

 shortness it seems hardly possible that they can be used 

 as weapons of attack. They must, however, greatly 



^^ See Mr. Wallace's interesting account of this animal, ' The Malay- 

 Archipelago,' 18G9, vol. i. p. -loo. 



