326 SETIFERA. 



wild swine that are the produce of the litter of one breeding sow 

 that has been introduced. 



As an instance of the facility and rapidity with which the Pig 

 may be completely naturalized and become a pest, one may mention 

 New Zealand, where some of the pigs introduced by the colonists 

 have escaped and their offspring have spread themselves over the 

 country, and are now a pest to the colonial farmer and breeder of 

 sheep, destroying the crops of the former, and following the ewes 

 and eating the lambs as they are dropped on the sheep-walk. A 

 reward of so much per head is paid for all the pigs that are desti'oyed 

 in several parts of that colony. 



I have attempted to arrange the genera of Suidte in natural groups. 

 All the genera are well defined, and, I believe, distinct. The only 

 doubtful one is my genus Ceniuriosus, which was established on an 

 animal wliich is as yet only known in a domesticated state, and one 

 that breeds with facUity with the Domestic Pig of Europe, and the 

 mules are fertile. 



The species of Pigs have been very much misunderstood. Pigs 

 belonging to very distinct genera have been considered varieties of 

 the same species, or only domestic varieties of the Common Hog. 

 The genera and species have been gradually unravelled. 



As an example, I may here observe that Desmarest regards Sus 

 porcus {Potamoclicerus porcus) as only a domestic variety oi Sus scrofa. 



Fischer considers Sus Icoiropotamus {Potamochcerus larvatus) a 

 synonym of Sus larvatus, the type of the genus Phacochoerus. 



Fitzinger, in his Essay on the Setifera, in the ' Sitzungsberichte ' 

 of the Vienna Academy for 1864, has brought together what has 

 been written on the subject, and has given a useful synoj)sis of the 

 species as characterized by their external characters. 



Unfortunately we have not any good works on the Domestic Pig, 

 or clear history of the origin of several of the most approved breeds, 

 some of which are most probably the result of the interbreeding of 

 several varieties. 



Desmarest, in his ' Mammiferes,' gives a list of the domestic varie- 

 ties divided into subvarieties (see Mamm, p. 390). 



YouaU (' Pig,' 1860) and Richardson (' On the Pigs and their 

 Origin,' 1847) have written on the English breeds. 



Little information respecting the species of the family is to be ob- 

 tained from travellers ; they are generally satisfied with stating that 

 a wild boar was observed, sometimes adding that it afi'orded good 

 sport, and rarely make any observations respecting the Domestic 

 Pigs. They often include under the name of " wild boar " species 

 of different genera, as the French naturalists do under the name of 

 sanglier. The skins of Pigs are rarely preserved, except by profes- 

 sional collectors ; and they only collect the wild specimens ; so that 

 the specimens in Museums are limited in number and kinds, and 

 afibrd very imperfect materials for the systematic zoologist. 



The domestic animals of the different countries inhabited by man, 

 and especially the effect of the chmate or local circumstances on 

 those that have been introduced from other countries, have yet to be 



