SüS-STUDlES. 189 



mals! And as the named mammals never had large enemies, 

 the more it must excite surprise that Celebes is at present 

 not crowded with large herds of Faradoxurus- , Anoa- and 

 Bahirussa-mdiYiduah^ but that contrariwise the numbers 

 of individuals of the named genera are very restrict, nay 

 rare! This leaving as it is, it is believed that the presently 

 on the large East Indian Islands living Pigs are ofiFsprings 

 from intruders from the Indian Continent, turned ') into 

 quite distinct forms during past thousands of years, and 

 they reason further as follows : as there was formerly no 

 land-connection between the Indian Continent and New- 

 Guinea, the presently in New-Guinea living Pigs ought to 

 be ofiFsprings of imported tame Pigs grown wil'd ! However 

 no more as anybody can tell us from which species have 

 originated the other Pigs from the large East-Indian- 

 Islands, which ancestors walked over land-bridges or other 

 land-connections from the continent, no more anybody can 

 say from what species of Pigs the in New- Guinea now 

 living Pigs are offsprings, — and they differ from all other 

 known forms! But consented that the ancestors of the 

 New-Guinea Pigs have been brought over by mankind or 

 by an other unknown agency, they as a matter of fact 

 presently differ as much from their unknown ancestors as 

 the Pigs of the large East-Indian- Islands presently differ 

 from their unknown ancestors, and there is no reason to 

 distinguish the latter by specific names and those from 



1) f. i. Stehlin (Ueber die Geschichte des Suiden-Gebisses, 1899, Erster Teil, 

 p. 292) suggests: „Babirussa könnte ein modificierter Faloeoc/ioeriis von verru- 

 "co5«s-Typus sein, d. h. etwa seit Beginn des Miocaens seine eigenen Wege 

 "eingescldagen hahen. Das dabei geographische Isolierung eine RoUe spielte, 

 "halte ich fur sehr wahrscheinlich." And Wallace (the Malay Archipelago, 

 1869, Vol. I, p. 435) explained the as useless supposed curved upper canines 

 as follows; "1 should be inclined to believe, that these tusks were once useful 

 "and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but that changed conditions 

 'of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop into a mon- 

 ''strous form." And there never have been Pig-eating animals in Celebes, therefore 

 may one ask after the «for what" these teeth //once" have been • useful"? 

 and «are they now truly useless"? Nescimus! 



Notes from, the Leyden IMiiseum, Vol. XXVI. 



