PIGS' TROTTERS 



and below the eyes are especially large ; and their 

 situation recalls the fable wherein Momus is made to 

 criticize the bull made by Zeus on the grounds that the 

 horns should have been placed below the eye so that it 

 could see where to strike. The wart hog can, or, at 

 . least, could ; for it uses its long and upcurved tusks 

 for aggressive purposes. These tusks, like those of 

 others of the pig tribe, notably the babyroussa, are 

 perhaps to be looked upon as being originally of a 

 pathological nature. Being found useful they were 

 retained by Nature. Though the wart hog has these 

 weapons ready to hand, it is not of particularly fierce 

 nature ; and those at the Zoo have as a rule been placid 

 and quite porcine creatures with a fondness for being 

 scratched with the end of a walking stick. In Africa 

 they go in herds to some extent, and live in the de- 

 serted burrows and mounds made by the aard vark 

 or Orycteropus. It is related that when leaving these 

 burrows they turn a kind of somersault at the front 

 door which is apt to be damaging to a bystander who 

 is too close. It does not appear whether the wart hog 

 evicts the peaceful Orycteropus, or is only an inhabiter 

 of deserted houses. Like other pigs, the wart hog has, 

 it can readily be observed, four toes on each of its fore 

 legs, of which the larger two are in the middle and the 

 smaller outside and not reaching the ground. Take 

 away the outer, and nearly functionless, toes and the 

 state of affairs characteristic of the deer, oxen and 

 antelopes is arrived at. In fact the pigs are an ancient 

 race, and this is one of the anatomical facts which 

 shows it. On the fore limbs are wart-like structures 

 caused by the habit of the animal of kneeling. It has 

 been lately shown that these warts are not altogether 

 produced during the lifetime of their possessor, in re- 

 sponse to frequent kneeling, like the horny hand of 

 the blacksmith ; but the young, before they have 



