THE COLLARED PECCARY. 59 



The Family SUID-ffi, or the Hog tribe. 



The animals composing this family, of which the hog is 

 the type, are distributed over Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 South America ; it is indeed the only pachydermatous 

 group the members of which are thus distributed. 

 Viewed externally, the feet of these animals resemble those 

 oi" the ordinary Ruminants, and may indeed be termed 

 cloven ; but the distinction is evident when we come to 

 examine the bones. In the hog every toe (there are four 

 on each foot) has its own metacarpal or metatarsal bone, 

 and though the outer toe on each side is shorter than the 

 two middle, still it is as perfect in conformation. The 

 external similarity of the feet of the hog to those of the 

 cloven-footed ruminants, and their real distinction, did 

 not escape BufFon, though at the same time that celebrated 

 philosopher was unable to discern the true affinities of 

 this animal, and its real place in the scale of the mam- 

 malia. In the peccaries, however, it must be observed 

 that the metacarpal bones of the two middle toes of the 

 fore limbs and the corresponding metatarsal bones of the 

 hind limbs are consolidated into a sort of cannon-bone, 

 as in ruminating animals, while at the same time the sto- 

 mach is divided into several distinct sacculi — an additional 

 point of structural approximation to the ruminants. 



The general external characters of the hog tribe need 

 not be recapitulated here; all are familiar with them, as 

 displayed by the ordinary tenant of the sty. 



The Collared Peccary {Dlcotyles torquatus). 



The Peccaries are the only indigenous representatives 

 of the porcine group in America; the hog, which is 

 now common there, being of recent introduction, though 

 it wanders in wild herds. 



The peccary closely resembles the hog in form and in 

 the quality of the bristly hair which covers the body. 

 It differs, however, from the hog in dentition, the in- 

 cisors of the upper jaw being four instead of six, and the 

 molars above and below on each side six ; while the tusks, 



