PIGS 277 



parietal portion of the skull, but its relationships are best 

 expressed if considered a forest wart-hog. The characters 

 which ally it to the wart-hog are the similarity in shape of 

 the enlarged upper canines, which turn upward and inward 

 and have only their lower basal parts in contact with the 

 sharp cutting edges of the lower canines, the presence of 

 only two upper incisor teeth, and well-developed pits or 

 choanae in the basisphenoid bone. The external similarity 

 consists of an enlarged wart below the eye, a patch of hori- 

 zontal whiskers on the cheek, and the presence of but two 

 pairs of mammae in the female. The cheek teeth have the 

 ridged structure and shape found in the bush pig, but the 

 general shape of the skull, especially the enlarged zygomatic 

 arches, are distinctly like those of the wart-hog. In general 

 external appearance the forest hog suggests a large edition 

 of the bush pig, having the same relative proportion of head 

 to bulk of body, short, stout legs, long tufted tail, pointed 

 pencillate ears, and a uniform covering of coarse hair 

 throughout. In bulk of body it exceeds somewhat any 

 other pig, but in standing height at the withers it is slightly 

 inferior to the larger Asiatic boars, such as the long-headed 

 Bornean species. 



Although the forest hog eluded discovery until 1904, 

 the veil which had shrouded it was lifted in a remarkable 

 manner throughout Africa during the succeeding few years, 

 within which time three additional new species, or rather 

 races, were described from the Cameroons and the head- 

 waters of the Congo River. Our knowledge of the forest 

 hog may be said to have sprung into existence almost si- 

 multaneously from remote parts of Africa. Two years after 

 the discovery of the first specimen we are confronted with 

 descriptions of two additional species or races of this rare 

 animal from localities many hundreds of miles from the 

 original source. Three years later still another was de- 

 scribed from the Congo basin. Specimens at the present 

 time are not at all rare in the principal natural history 

 museums of Europe and America. It is, indeed, remarkable 

 to find an animal so exceedingly rare and of such recent 

 discovery so completely illuminated within so few years 

 of its discovery, while many long-known species, such as the 

 Derby eland, West African bongo, Abbott duiker, and a 



