BRITISH GUIANA (1) 109 
swimmer and diver and is much hunted for his flesh. The local 
name among the black colonials is Watras, which is a corruption 
of the name Water Haas (Water Hare), passed down by the 
Dutch colonists. More out of fun than anything else, I shouted 
to Joe, “Go chase him, man,” and off he went. He was soon lost 
among the bushes growing in this boggy place. The capybara kept 
to the muddiest places for safety, but Joe, running like a rabbit 
and picking his way where the soil was firm, caught up with 
him and IJ heard a yell for assistance. When I had picked my way 
past numerous black muddy bog-holes, I found Joe floundering 
in a mud bath trying to hold the struggling capybara by the leg. 
I entered the fray, and there we struggled knee-deep in mud, 
staging our own version of “catch the greasy pig’—a game for- 
merly reserved for country fairs. By the time we got the brute on 
dry land we looked a couple of fine specimens, and the mile trek 
home with our fat Watras put an end to any further exertions for 
that day. 
It is noticeable that the male has a naked fleshy gland about 
the size of a halfpenny on his snout. If this is squeezed a milky 
musky-smelling secretion exudes from the pores. Such glands are 
regarded as of sexual significance and the odor given off may be 
to attract or excite the female, or simply to denote sex. They occur 
in different parts of the body in other mammals, for instance in 
certain primates, but the precise function of these secondary sex 
characters is obscure. Scent glands, as in the case of civets, palm- 
civets, genets, zorillas and skunks, may function mainly for defen- 
sive purposes, but in the peccaries—the wild pigs of South America 
—the glands seem to provide a means of maintaining contact 
with the herd. This gland is situated in the center of the lower 
back and occurs in both sexes. From this I have frequently seen 
a captive peccary eject a spray of malodorous fluid backwards 
for a distance of several feet. 
There are two species of peccaries in British Guiana—the Col- 
lared and the White-lipped. Both go around in large herds and 
are much preyed upon by jaguars and man. As they wander 
through the forest nosing in the soil for roots and sniffing out 
fallen fruits, it is important that none stray too far from the herd, 
for it is the odd specimens that are preyed upon. When in num- 
