396 SWINE GROUP 



THE RED RIVER-HOG 



(Potautochcerus porcus) 



This west coast species is one of the most brilliantly coloured of 

 all large herbivorous animals ; but, like other members of this group, 

 is best distinguished by the characters of the skull in adult boars. In 

 these the lateral ridges above the tusks have flattened summits which 

 do not project above the plane of the nose, and thus do not form 

 convex crests ; while the ridges on the sheaths of the tusks are narrow 

 at their bases, expanded above, and low, and not reaching the plane of 

 the nose -bones. Both pairs of ridges are very stout. The ears are 

 densely haired and have very long terminal tufts, which, like the 

 margins, are white. The general colour is bright brownish red, with 

 a large portion of the face and the outer surface of the ears black, 

 and the whiskers, the crest on the back, and a streak above and below 

 each eye white. 



The Cameroons and Guinea are well-known localities for the red 

 river-hog, which has a wide distribution on the west coast ; although 

 whether it is this species which occurs in Angola, and how far its range 

 extends into the interior, have yet to be ascertained. Its habits are 

 doubtless generally similar to those of other bush -pigs, although 

 information is scanty on this point. 



THE FOREST-HOG 



( Hylochcerus meinertzJiageni] 

 Tumtu, NANDI ; El Guya, MASAI ; Engak, CAMEROONS 



About the time the okapi was discovered reports became current 

 as to the existence in the equatorial forest of a huge hairy black pig, 

 which was neither a bush -pig nor a wart-hog. The truth of these 

 reports was established in 1904, when Captain R. Meinertzhagen sent 

 to the Natural History branch of the British Museum portions of the 

 skin and a skull of the previously unknown monster. On the evidence 

 of these specimens Mr. O. Thomas, in the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society for 1904, vol. ii. p. 193, established the new genus and species 

 Hylockoerus meinertzliageni ; the genus being in some degree inter- 



