BUSH- PIG 391 



THE BUSH-PIG 



{Potaiitoc/uvrus cJiccropotaDius) 



Bosch-vark, Cape Dutch ; Ingulubi, SwAZi AND ZuLU ; 

 Ngur?i:ve, Nyasa 



Although near akin to the typical swine of North Africa, Europe, 

 and Asia, the bush -pig of South Africa and its relatives present 

 certain peculiarities which render it, on the whole, convenient to refer 

 them to a genus apart. They have, for example, only 42, in place of 

 44, teeth ; and their tusks are relatively small. Of more importance 

 is the presence of a ridge of bone on each side of the nose-bones 

 immediately above the root of the upper tusk, and of a second ridge 

 on the sheath of the tusk itself, in the skulls of adult boars. In very 

 old boars the upper ridge has a horny covering, so that it in some 

 degree represents a horn. The ears terminate in tufts of long hair ; 

 and very frequently the colouring of the whole animal is bright. Like 

 so many modern African animals, bush-pigs appear to have existed 

 in tertiary times in India ; the extinct species described as Sus 

 hysudricus, S. tttati, and 5. giganteus being now referred to the genus 

 Potamodicerus. 



As regards the number of species of bush-pigs, the paper by 

 Dr. C. J. Forsyth-Major in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society 

 for 1897 is here followed. It should, however, be mentioned that 

 in the appendix to Major Powell -Cotton's Sporting Trip through 

 Abyssinia the Hon. Walter Rothschild recognised the following seven 

 African species, viz. — 



Potiwiochariis charopotamus. — West Africa, south to Angola. 



PotanwcJioerus capensis. — South Africa. 



PotamocJixrus nyasa;. — Lake Mweru and South-West Nyasaland. 



PotaviocJiccrus dcemonis. — Uganda and German East Africa. 



PotanwcJicerus joJmstoni. — North- West Nyasaland. 



Potaniochivriis hassavia. — North-East Africa. 



Potaiiiodiccrtis porais. — -West Africa. 



In addition, there is the Malagasy P. larvatns, which probably 

 reached its present habitat from East Africa by swimming the 

 intervening Strait. 



The present species {P. clioeropotamiis) is characterised by the 

 great development of the ridges on the face of the skulls of adult 



