JOHNSTON'S BUSH- PIG 395 



can be fitted, and, if the bush be not too dense, the charge may be 

 met squarely on the lowered point." 



JOHNSTON'S BUSH-PIG 

 (Potamoch&rus Johns tont} 



The skull of a female bush-pig collected by Sir H. H. Johnston 

 on the north-western shore of Lake Nyasa in the neighbourhood of 

 Deep Bay has been the type of a species by Dr. Forsyth-Major on 

 p. 367 of the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1897. Although 

 referable to a subadult animal, this skull is remarkable for its large 

 size, straight profile, and general slenderness ; while the nasal region, 

 in place of being flattened, with angular lateral margins, is rounded 

 off. The cheek-teeth are relatively large. From these peculiarities, 

 it was anticipated by Dr. Major that the male skull would likewise 

 present well-marked characteristics of its own. 



It was suggested by Sir H. H. Johnston that certain bush-pigs 

 from south-east Nyasaland, which are reported to be faintly striped 

 and spotted with white, would turn out to belong to this species. 

 According, however, to the Hon. Walter Rothschild (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1906, p. 632), the coat of the boars is dirty red, with a few inter- 

 mingled black hairs ; the colour being intermediate between that of 

 P. chceropotamus and P. porcus. The skull shows some approximation 

 to that of the Malagasy P. larvatus. 



THE ABYSSINIAN BUSH-PIG 



(Potamochocrus hassama) 

 Assami, ABYSSINIAN ; Askarmar, AR<JO 



According to Dr. Major, in the paper cited above, the skulls of 

 males of this species, while showing an approximation to the red 

 river-hog in the stoutness and lowness of the ridges above the tusks, 

 and likewise in the breadth of the facial portion in advance of the 

 processes at the hind borders of the eye-sockets, arc peculiar and 

 distinct from those of all other species in the great length of the 

 portion behind the aforesaid processes. This bush-pig was named by 

 the Austrian naturalist Hcuglin in 1863 ; but it is difficult to obtain 

 particulars with regard to its colouring. 



