961 



SUID^E. 



SUID^E. 



963 



two canines, and fourteen molar teeth in each jaw. ( Ossemens 

 FoBsiles.') 



Teeth of Hog. (F. Cuvicr.) 



The extremities of the hog have much relationship to those of the 

 Ruminants [RUMINANTIA], especially of the Sheep and the Stag. 



The Spine of the Shoulder-Blade, as in the Horse, is nearly at an 

 equal distance from the anterior and posterior border ; whilst in the 

 Ox and Stag it is much nearer to the anterior edge. This spine, as in 

 the Horse again, is lowered before, and more projecting at its upper 

 third, where it forms a hook bent backwards. In other respects, it is 

 wider in the upper part than that of tho Horse, its coracoid tubercle 

 is less projecting, and itu articular surface higher than it is wide. 

 The great tuberosity of the Humerusis very high, as in the Ruminants; 

 but it is notched by a large re-entering arch ; the bicipital groove is, 

 on the internal side, narrower and deeper ; the whole upper part of 

 the bead of the bone is narrower in proportion. The Ulna is wide 

 and depressed, with a ridge on its anterior surface, forming with the 

 internal edge a long hollow surface, by which in advancing age it is 

 soldered to the radius. In the Ruminants it is more compressed and 

 much more slender. In the Peccary it is soldered sooner and more 

 completely than in the Hog. Tho Carpus much resembles that of 

 Ruminants, with this difference, that the trapezoidal remains a longer 

 time distinct from the great bone. Nevertheless, no bone has a per- 

 fect resemblance, and on comparison the difference will de detected, 

 although it cannot be expressed in words. 



The differences of the Femora are also very difficult to be expressed 

 verbally. The head is more elevated and more convex towards the 

 upper part than that of any Ruminant. The great trochanter is wider 

 and a little notched ; the projecting ridge which goes from one to the 

 other trochanter is more rounded; the internal edge of the rotular 

 pulley ascends less than the other, which is the contrary of the struc- 

 ture in the Ruminants ; the notch between the condyles is narrower 

 and pointed forwards, <tc. The Tibia is easily recognised, because it is 

 shorter, has its lower head squared and not narrowed from behind 

 forwards, and has no articulation with the fibula. The principal 

 difference of the Tarsus rests on the small wedge-shaped bone, on the 

 vestige of the fifth toe, and in the scaphoid remaining distinct from 

 the cuboid bone. The astragalus tends to that of the Ruminants by 

 the form of the pulley of the lower head. The metacarpal bones, 

 inetatarsals, and toes, cannot be confounded with those of any other 

 animal, and their characters, partly visible externally, are kuown to 

 all naturalists, or will be easily defined by them. It need only bo 

 remarked, that in the Peccary the two middle bones of the meta- 

 carpus and metatarsus are soldered into a Cannon, as in the Rumi- 

 nants, and that the only vestige in this animal of the external toe- on 

 the hind foot is a small flattened stylet, applied against the base of the 

 cannon bone. 



The Cervical Vertebra of the Hog are not easily confounded with 



MAT. HIST. BIT. VOL. IV. 



those of any Ruminant of its proportions, by reason of the brevity of 

 their bodies, and the width of their transverse apophyses, especially of 

 those of the penultimate one. The body of the vertebra is not so 

 convex in front as in the Ruminants. (' Ossemens Fossiles.') 



The number of the vertebrae appears to be liable to considerable 

 variation. (Eyton, 'Proc. of Zool. Society,' 1837.) 



The other parts of the internal organisation of the Suidce need no 

 detailed description. In the Museum of the College of Surgeons in 

 London'is a preparation of the stomach of Dicotyles torquatus, which 

 is remarkable for having three compartments. 



Linnams placed the genus Sus between Hippopotamus and Rhino- 

 ceros, in his order Bellua, which order stands between those of Pecora 

 and Cete, in his last edition of the ' Systema Nature.' 



Cuvier arranges the Cochons (Sus, Linn.) under his ordinary Pachy- 

 dermala. This genus comprises the sub-genera Sus, Phacochcerus, and 

 Dicotyles, and stands between Hippopotamus and Anoplotherium, which 

 last is followed by Rhinoceros. 



Illiger arranges Sus as the only genus of his Setigera, his last 

 family of his fifth order Mvltungula, which order is immediately pre- 

 ceded by the Nasuta, consisting of the genus Tapirus. The Solidun- 

 gula immediately follow the Multunyula. 



Dr. J. E. Gray makes the Suina, ;i sub-family of the ElepJiantidce. 

 He includes in it the following species, of which specimens exist in 

 the British Museum : 



Sus fasciatus, the Striped Boar. 



S. Scrofa, the Boar. 



S. Papuensis, the Bene. 



& Indicus. the Indian Wild Boar. 



Babiruasa Alfurus, the Babirussa. 



Choiropotamus Africanus, the Bosch-Vark. 



Phacochcerus jSthiopicus, the Valkc-Vark, or Emgallo. 



P. jtEliani, the Haruja, or Hallup. 



Dicotyles Tajacu, the Peccary, or Tajau. 



D. lab talus, the Tagnicate. 



We now proceed to give some account of the more remarkable forms 

 in this list. 



Sus Scrofa, Linn., S. Aper, Briss., the Wild Boar, Le Sanglier of the 

 French, is still an inhabitant of many of the temperate parts of Europe 

 and Asia, but no longer exists in a natural state in the British Islands. 



Dental Formula : Incisors,- ; Canines, JH- ; Molars, _ 44. 



The Wild Boar, which is too well known to need description, and of 

 which living individuals are to be seen in the gardens of the Zoological 

 Society, Regent's Park, harbours in the most solitary places in retired 

 forests. His lair is generally in some wild and remote spot, not far 

 from water, and commanding by some devious path access to the open 

 country. The young, or Marcassins, as they are termed by the French, 

 are striped with longitudinal bands. 



Throughout Europe the boar* was held in high estimation as a beast 

 of chace. Nobles, princes, and even kings, delighted to take the fiel'. 

 with the boar-spear, and peril their persons in hunting this fierce 

 animal. In our own country, where it formerly rioted in the dense 

 forests which have now vanished before the inroads of an increasing 

 population, the loss of his eyes was the punishment inflicted by 

 William the Conqueror on him who was convicted of killing a wild 

 boar. In the vast forest which so late as Henry II.'s time stood on 

 the north side of London, were stags, fallow-deer, wild boars, and 

 bulls. lu the ' Leges Wallica) ' it appears that Howel-dda gave per- 

 mission to his grand huntsman to chace the boar from the middle of 

 November to the beginning of December. In Europe the boar-spear 

 has given way to the rifle ; but in India, where the field is taken on 

 horseback, the spear is still used, and hog-hunting appears to be one 

 of the most exciting of the wild sports of that land of the sun. 



An attempt was made by Charles I. to restore this noble game to 

 England, and he turned out several wild boars in the New Forest; 

 but the civil wars were no friendly times for the experiment, and they 

 were all destroyed. More recently General Howe procured some wild 

 boars and BOWS from Germany, and turned them into the forests of 

 Walmer and Alice Holt, or Ayles Holt, " to the great terror of the 

 neighbourhood," as White says, in his ' History of Selborne ;' " and, at 

 one time, a wild bull or buffalo : but the country rose upon them, and 

 destroyed them." 



The senses of the Hog are acute, especially that of smelling. The 

 broad snout ploughs up the herbage ; and not a root, an insect, or a 

 worm, escapes the olfactory sense. If fairly treated, it is by no means 

 a dirty animal ; but it is too often styed up in its own filth. There 

 are few more pleasing scenes in the farm-yard than a well laid-out 

 piggery properly kept. The animal itself is anything but stupid, and 

 is capable of strong attachment where kindness is shown to it. That 

 it is docile the number of learned pigs proves ; and still more the 

 famous sporting sow, that went regularly out with the gun, and 

 stood her game as staunch as any pointer. It is said that the Hog 

 is trained on the Continent to hunt for truffles. [Hoa, in ARTS AND 

 Sc. Div.] 



Babiruasa, F. Cuv. F. Cuvier has separated this form from Sus, 

 relying upon characters, one of the principal of which is the upward 



