288 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



upper incisors is not a recent affair but one which has been 

 long estabhshed, as shown by the absence of even rudimen- 

 tary incisors in young a few months of age. The lower 

 incisor teeth show less complete disappearance and still per- 

 sist as rudiments sunk beneath the rim of the bone in pits 

 well below the gums. These teeth are quite as rudimentary 

 and functionless in the young as in the adults. Other skull 

 differences are the absence of a bony roof over the posterior 

 part of the choanae or pits in the floor of the skull. 



Two specimens of the desert wart-hog are in the National 

 Museum, collected by the Rainey expedition in the region 

 lying between Mount Marsabit and the Northern Guaso 

 Nyiro. One of these is an adult male but not an old ani- 

 mal, the last molar not being fully in place and the upper 

 tusks only half grown. The flesh measurements and skull 

 of this specimen are considerably less in size than those of 

 the East African wart-hog, as are also those of an adult 

 female recorded by Lonnberg, which would indicate much 

 smaller body size for this species. The flesh measurements 

 of the male were : head and body, 42 inches ; tail, i7>^ inches ; 

 hind foot, 9^ inches; ear, 4^ inches. Greatest length of 

 skull: male, 13^ inches; female, 12^ inches. Exposed 

 portion of upper tusk in the male measured on the curve, 

 5^ inches. Ward records specimens from Somaliland hav- 

 ing a length of exposed tusks ranging from 10 to 13 inches, 

 but such specimens may be referable to africanus, which 

 occurs in the highlands of Somaliland and Abyssinia in close 

 proximity to delamerei. The desert wart-hog is found only 

 in the lower drainage area of the Northern Guaso Nyiro 

 below an altitude of three thousand feet, the river drainage 

 above this altitude and the slopes of Mount Kenia and the 

 Aberdare Range being occupied by the East African wart- 

 hog. It extends southward, no doubt, as far as the north 

 bank of the Tana River. Sportsmen's records regarding 

 this species, however, are wanting, owing to its confusion 

 by them with the East African race, which it resembles 

 closely in general external appearance. 



