THE HIPPOPOTAMI 1039 



exciting nature. Although when first killed the carcass of a hippopotamus sinks to 

 the bottom immediately after death, it will rise within twenty-four hours, owing to 

 the generation of gases in the stomach, if the depth of water does not exceed some 

 twenty-five feet. 



Formerly hippopotamus ivory was valued for the manufacture of 



artificial teeth, and in the early part of this century it fetched as much 

 as six dollars per pound. Now, however, the animal is hunted solely for its hide 

 and fat, or for the sake of its flesh as food. The hide is used for whips, and, 

 according to Sir S. Baker, also for facing revolving wheels employed in polishing 

 steel. A good hippopotamus will yield about two hundred pounds of pure fat; 

 and the writer last named states that the flesh of the hippopotamus is always pala- 

 table, that of the young calf being delicious; the feet of the latter making an excel- 

 lent stew, and its skin soup which has been compared to turtle. 

 In Ca tivit ^ e n ipPP tamus thrives well in capitivity, and breeds not unfre- 



quently. The first specimen exhibited in the London Zoological So- 

 ciety's Gardens was captured on the Upper Nile in 1849, and brought to England in 

 the following year, where, as already mentioned, it lived till 1878. This was a 

 male, and although a consort was obtained for it in 1853, no young were produced 

 till 1871. The calf born in that year did not, however, long survive, and the same 

 untimely fate also befell a second calf produced in the spring of the following year. 

 A third calf was born in the autumn of 1872, and was still living in 1894. 

 p . The Siberian or pygmy hippopotamus (ff. liberiensis} from West 



potamus Africa is a much smaller animal, not exceeding a pig in dimensions, 



and weighing only about four hundred pounds. This species differs 

 structurally from the common one in having only a single pair of incisor teeth in the 

 lower jaw, although a small representative of the seco.nd pair may sometimes occur 

 on one side. The color of the back is slaty black, while that of the under parts is 

 dirty, grayish white, and the sides greenish, slaty gray. The height at the shoulder 

 is about two feet six inches, and the total length six feet, of which seven inches are 

 occupied by the tail. 



This diminutive species appears to be confined to Upper Guinea, and 



according to Herr Bii ttikofer is found only in swamps and damp for- 

 ests, and not in rivers. Its habits are said, indeed, to be more like those of wild 

 swine than those of its gigantic cousin, and, instead of traversing well-beaten paths, 

 it wanders great distances in the woods. The author quoted is uncertain whether 

 the lyiberian hippopotamus is nocturnal or diurnal in its habits, although he is in- 

 clined to believe that it is the latter. It is, however, certain that it lives either soli- 

 tary or in pairs, and that it never associates in troops like the larger species. 

 E f t Hi Among extinct species of genus, the Maltese hippopotamus (H. 



potami minutus) , of which the remains are found in such enormous quantities 



in the caverns of Malta and Sicily, appears to have been no larger 

 than the Siberian species, though it resembled the ordinary living African one in the 

 number of its lower incisor teeth. Intermediate in size between the Maltese and the 

 common hippopotamus was Pentland's hippopotamus (H. pentla ndi}, found in the 

 same deposits as the former. The vast quantities in which the remains of these two 



