86 ON THE MALAYAN AND PAPUAN PIGS 



and perhaps with more chance of probability than has 

 been attained by defenders of the opposite view , authors 

 like Dr, Gray and Père Heude, who have divided the 

 mentioned large group in numerous genera and in an un- 

 limited number of species. So Dr. Gray (Catalogue, 1869 

 and Hand-list, 1873) recognized the following — according 

 to him well defined — genera : Euhys , Aulacochoerus , Dasy- 

 c/werus , Sus , Scrofa and Centuriosus , and Père Heude (Mé- 

 moires concernant I'histoire naturelle de I'Empire chinois , 

 1888) distinguished in East Asia eleven distinct new spe- 

 cies of the genus Sus , viz. : ussuricus , dicrurus , taininen- 

 sis , calamianensis , cehifrons , minutus , effrenus , conchy vorus, 

 jalaensis, microtis and frenatus. 



Gray ^) correctly observed that the study of the Pigs 

 is attended with considerable difficulty, probably arising 

 from three peculiarities of the group : 



1". That most of the wild or presumed wild species are 

 easily reduced to a domestic or semidomestic condition. 



2". That the domestic breeds return to their wild con- 

 dition , even in countries situated far away from their na- 

 tive habitats, and that, under favourable circumstances, 

 the newly enfranchised animals are able to hold their own 

 against the native and colonial cultivators. 



3". That the domestic, and possibly the wild species 

 have a great facility in breeding together, having fertile 

 offspring. 



The difficulty increases still more if we reflect on the 

 facts that we do not know what has been the origin of 

 our Sus domesticus and even not in what different parts 

 of the world this tame Pig has been introduced by man 

 in foregoing centuries. In the latter respect we possess only 

 a few directly and credible notices. So I find in the Jour- 

 nal of Dr. Forsten, written by himself in September 1840, 

 the following notice: » There are in the island of Banka , to 



1) Mr. de Blainville made about the same observations, see Osteographie, 

 1839-64, T. IV, Sus, p. 108. 



Notes from tlae Leyden IMuseuxa, "Vol. XJII. 



