64 Zoological Society : — 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



December 14, 1852.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



On the Painted Pig of the Camaroons (Potamochcerus 



penicillatus). 



By John Edward Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., Y.P.Z.S. etc. 



This Pig was imported into Liverpool, where it remained some time, 

 being regarded as the common Cape " Bosch Vark." It was at length 

 purchased by the Society, and is one of the most interesting additions 

 made during the course of the present year to the very numerous 

 series of animals now in the Gardens. 



It diifers in colour and proportions from the Cape "Bosch Vark," 

 but like it belongs to a very distinct group of Pigs from those found 

 in Europe and Asia, and from the Babyrussa of the Malay Islands. 



In the ' Annals and ^lagaziue of Natural History ' for October 

 1852, I gave a short account of this animal, and formed a genus for 

 this group of African Pigs, to which I gave the name of Choiropotn- 

 viiis, describing the present species bv the name of C. pic f us, and it 

 is figured under this name in the ' Illustrated London News.' Since 

 these notices were published, I have found that it will be necessary 

 to change both these names ; the first because there is a genus of 

 fossil animals described by Cuvier, which has been called Cheiropo- 

 tamus. I therefore propose to reverse the words and call the genus 

 Potamochcerus. The specific name is changed because the pig appears 

 to have been described in 1848 from a specimen in the ^Iuseum of 

 the town of Basle in Switzerland, in a work which has not yet reached 

 this country, but a short abstract of the description has been copied 

 into a French Journal. 



The group of Pigs (Sus, Cuvier) may be di^nded into three very 

 well-marked genera, distinguished by their external appearance, pecu- 

 liarities in the skull, and by their geographical distribution, thus : — 



Genus 1. Sus. 



The ears rounded ; tail slender ; face conical, simple, or with a 

 small wart on each cheek ; the hinder upper part of the intermaxillary 

 bones simple ; the upper canines coming out on the lower edge of 

 the maxilla and then recurved. Found wild in Europe and Asia, but 

 domesticated in all parts of the world. 



This genus contains several species, and almost the whole of them 

 are found wild in the forest, whilst some of their descendants are 

 generally to be met with in a domesticated or semi-domesticated state. 

 This is the case with the Pigs found in the islands of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, which have been regarded as distinct species. 



I may state that it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish the species 

 of this genus, especially from the examination and comparison of the 

 skull. I have examined with care ten skulls of what I believe to be 

 the European Wild Boar and its offspring, grown in this country, at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and at the Gambia, and twelve skulls of the 



