184 The Irish Naturalist. K^ov. Dec, 



We have no evidence of the existence in Ireland in very 

 remote or prehistoric times of a perfectly wild stock of 

 pigs of the eastern type, and we are, therefore, led to the 

 conclusion which I have just expressed. Nevertheless it is a 

 mistake to suppose that only the feral swine mentioned by 

 Giraldus but no truly wild swine lived in Ireland. I have 

 alluded above to a skull from Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, 

 discovered in black turfy mud nine feet below the surface. 

 It presents very striking differences from all other Irish 

 pig skulls. The canine teeth, which are extremely 

 powerful, resemble those found in a cairn in Co. 

 Fermanagh (p. 178) and in some of the Irish caves and 

 bogs. It is most unlikely then that the particular pig to 

 which the Killeshandra skull belonged was an isolated 

 instance, or that it had been introduced from abroad. 

 The skull undoubtedly is that of a genuine Wild Boar of the 

 continental type. The occipital region of the skull is bent 

 far back. The length of the skull from the foramen magnum 

 to the tip of the snout measures 334 mm., as compared 

 with 267 in a skull of the Dunshaughlin type. The upper 

 row of cheek teeth is 120 mm. long, whereas in the 

 Dunshaughlin pig it measures only 109 mm. The upper 

 length of the lachrymal bone is 62 mm., as compared with 

 43 mm. in the Dunshaughlin skull. The eye-sockets are 

 not round but oval measuring 48 mm. by 43 mm. These 

 and many other measurements I have made, together with 

 the large tusks of the Killeshandra skull, agree with those 

 of the European Wild Boar {Sus scrofa). Hence the latter 

 once inhabited Ireland, as it did England and Scotland. It 

 may already have become scarce in Ireland in the I2th 

 century, so that Giraldus Cambrensis only noticed the 

 small and ill-shaped feral pigs infesting the forests. Or 

 the latter may have been especialh^ numerous in the 

 southern parts of Ireland which were those visited by 

 that somewhat credulous Welshman. 



Now to return to our Greyhound Pig. Miss L. Stephens 

 pointed out to me that this pig has even penetrated to 

 Denmark. In his history of the Danish pig industry Dr. 



