The Indian Wild Boar 



but it meets a small jungle -path upon which some 

 person has been walking. The pig at once halts, 

 smells the ground, and waits, listenmg attentively and 

 making up its mind. It may be that it determines to 

 go forward ; if so, it starts off at its best pace ; but 

 should it declare for a retreat, it waits, listens for the 

 advance of the line of beaters, and quietly hides in the 

 densest bushes. At last, with shouts sufficient to scare 

 away every animal for miles around, the beaters arrive ; 

 you know the pig is there, but nobody has yet 

 discovered it. Just as the beaters have brought their 

 line in good order to the extreme margin of the jungle, 

 there is a sudden outburst of shouts and yells, a rush 

 in all directions ; screams and halloes ; sticks going 

 upon all sides ; a few short angry grunts, and a rattling 

 of loose stones, explain that the boar has broken back 

 through the line of beaters." 



Lower Siam and the central part of the Malay 

 Peninsula are inhabited by a wild pig near akin to the 

 Indian species, but of inferior size, with smaller and 

 nearly naked ears, which are devoid of a fringe of hair, 

 and less complex last molars. Although described as a 

 separate species, it may best be termed Sus cristatus 

 jubatus. Still smaller is S. cristatus jubatulus from Pulo 

 Teratau and perhaps other islands off the west coast of 

 the Malay Peninsula. A small pig from Kisserain 

 Island, Mergui Archipelago, may be the same as the 

 last. 



In past times Northern India was inhabited by two 

 gigantic pigs {Sus giganteus and S. titan), one of which 

 was apparently nearly as large as a good -sized mule, 

 although shorter in the legs. Both were allied to the 

 warty pig {S. ■verrucosus') of Java, as is shown by the 

 section of the lower tusk. 



The wild pig discovered by the Abbe David in the 

 forests of Moupin, Eastern Tibet, described by Pro- 

 fessor A. Milne-Edwards, of the Paris Museum, as 

 a Sus moupinensis^ is stated to show relationship with 



283 



