ON THE MALAYAN AND PAPUAN PIGS. 85 



NOTE VI. 



ON THE MALAYAN AND PAPUAN PIGS IN THE 

 LEYDEN MUSEUM. 



Dr. P. A. JENTINK 



January 1891. 



If we separate some aberrant forms like Babirussa, Di- 

 cotyles , PJiacochoerus , Potamochoerus and Porcula ^) from 

 Gray's suborder Setifera, there remains a large series of 

 Pigs which present a striking resemblance in external ap- 

 pearance and in dentition; they more or less remember 

 our common Sus scrofa. The latter is the only represen- 

 tant in Europe , meanwhile the others are distributed over 

 Asia, the islands of the East Indian Archipelago and 

 New-Guinea. If comparing the members of this group 

 with Sus scrofa and at the same time if paying attention 

 to their geographical distribution , one discovers that the 

 group may be split in several smaller ones which gene- 

 rally coincide with a more or less restricted geographical 

 area; names have been given to the latter smaller groups 

 and different species have been admitted. But if all the 

 large and small islands where at present Pigs are to be 

 found were connected by land with the Indian continent, 

 then I am convinced that there would be naturalists at 

 hand to look upon those Pigs as varieties of «Sus scrofa , 



1) Porcula salvania Hodgson is, according to Dr. Garson (P. Z. S. L. 1883), 

 only a young state of Sus scrofa. 



IS^otes from the Leyden üMuseum, Vol. XIII. 



