1028 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



come to close quarters, the wart hog with a sudden jerk would either lay its assail- 

 ant crippled on the ground, or send it howling away. 



We have no information as to the breeding habits of the wart hogs, but from 

 the number of teats in the female being only four, it may be inferred that but few 

 young are produced at a birth. The young are striped. 



THE PECCARIES 

 Family DlCOTTLID^E 



The peccaries, which are the American representatives of the swine, differ so 

 markedly from the latter that they are regarded as belonging to a separate family, 

 of which there is but a single genus. The most important differences between the 

 two groups are that the upper tusks of the peccaries have their points directed 

 downward instead of upward, that their hind-limbs have three instead of four toes, 

 while instead of the simple stomach of the Old-World swine, the peccaries have a 

 complex one approaching that of the Ruminants. 



Peccaries have a total of thirty-eight teeth, that is to say, they have a pair of 

 incisors in the upper jaw, and a premolar on each side of both jaws less than the 

 wild boar. The downwardly-directed upper tusks, which are at first completely 

 covered with enamel, are of small size, with sharp, cutting edges behind; while those 

 of the lower jaw are directed upward, outward, and slightly backward, and are 

 received in notches in the sides of the opposite jaw just in front of the upper tusks. 

 The last molar tooth in each jaw lacks the hind lobe characteristic of the Old- World 

 swine (see figure on p. 1008), and the fourth premolar tooth in the upper jaw resem- 

 bles the first molar in having four tubercles on its crown, instead of only three. In 

 addition to the difference in the number of toes in the hind-feet, the peccaries are 

 further distinguished by the upper ends of the two larger metacarpal and metatarsal 

 bones being united, so that we have here an approach to the formation of canon 

 bones. In this respect, as well as in the complex structure of their stomachs, and 

 the presence of four tubercles on their last upper premolar teeth, the peccaries are 

 clearly one step in advance of their allies of the Old World. 



An altogether unique feature in these animals is the presence of a large gland 

 in the middle of the back, from which is secreted in great abundance a most evil- 

 smelling oily substance. In appearance, peccaries are not unlike small hogs but 

 with very slender limbs; they are devoid of any externally visible tails, and their 

 snouts are much elongated and extremely mobile. Their ears are small and pointed, 

 and their bodies are covered with thick bristle-like hairs, elongated into a mane on 

 the neck, and forming a fringe on the throat and hind-quarters. The young are 

 uniformly colored, like their parents, and never exceed two in number at a birth. - 



. Of the two well-defined species, the collared peccary (Dicotyles 



tajacu] is the smaller, and has the most northerly habitat, its range 



extending from Arkansas and Texas to the Rio Negro in Patagonia. This species 



stands from about thirteen and one-half to fifteen and one-half inches in height at 



the shoulder. The bristly hairs are parti-colored, and the general hue of the pelage 



