MAMMALIA— MEXICAN HOG. 301 



is a difference of conformation ; the tail is extremely short, remarkably flat, 

 and completely pendulous ; and its bristles are much stronger than those of 

 the wild boar ; and, lastly, it has, upon that part of the back which borders 

 upon the buttocks, an opening from which there is discharged an ichorous 

 humor of a very disagreeable smell. The peccary is the only animal which 

 has an opening in this region of the body. In the civets, the badger, and 

 tbe genet, the reservoir for the perfume is situated beneath the parts of 

 generation ; and in the musk animals we find it under the belly. 



The peccary may be rendered a domestic animal, like the hog, and has 

 pretty nearly the same habits and natural inclinations. It feeds upon the 

 same aliments; and its flesh, though more dry and lean than that of a 

 hog, is not unpalatable. The female, however, breeds only once a year, 

 and has but two young ones at a birth. 



These animals are extremely numerous in all the parts of South America. 

 There are two species ; 



THE COLLARED PECCARY,! AND THE WHITE- 

 LIPPED PECCARY. 2 



The former is not a migratory animal, but usually lives in the forest 

 where it is produced, and is generally met with in pairs or in small families. 

 It is the smallest of the two species, seldom measuring three feet in length, 

 or weighing more than fifty pounds. Its general color is a yellowish gray, 

 with the exception of the legs, which are nearly black; and it has a some- 

 what erectile mane on the back of the neck, composed of a row of long 

 black bristles. 



The white-lipped peccary is much larger than the other species, as it not 

 unfrequently reaches a length of three feet and a half, and a weight of a 

 hundred pounds. It is thicker and stouter in its proportions, has a longer 

 and thicker mane, and has less of the grayish tinge. "Unlike the former 

 species, the white-lipped peccaries," says the author of The Gardens and 

 Menagerie of the Zoological Society, " congregate in numerous bands, 

 sometimes amounting, it is said, to more than a thousand individuals of all 

 ages. Thus united, they frequently traverse extensive districts, the whole 

 troop occupying an extent of a league in length, and directed in their march, 

 if the accounts of the natives are to be credited, by a leader, who takes his 

 station at the head of the foremost rank. Should they be impeded in their 

 progress by a river, the chief stops for a moment, and then plunges boldly 

 into the stream, and is followed by all the rest of the troop. The breadth 

 of the river or the rapidity of the current appear to be but trifling obstacles 

 in their way, and to be overcome with the greatest facility. On reaching 

 the opposite bank, they proceed directly on their course, and continue their 

 march even through the plantations which, unfortunately for the owners, 



1 Dicotyles torquatus, Cuv. 2 Dicotyles labiatus, Cuv. 



