36 Permanence aad Evolution. 



indicd) was from a separate wild stock, a pro- 

 position hardly disputed by any one who has 

 attended to the subject, specially now we know 

 many wild pigs nearer to it, than it is to the old 

 European pig or the wild boar of Europe. 

 Riitimeyer (" Fauna der Pfahlbauten," p. 3, et 

 seq., also see p. 179) has discovered the bones 

 of a wild or half-wild race of pig in the lake- 

 habitations, called by him the "marsh hog," 

 from which he supposes the breeds of South 

 Europe to descend. We thus have three origins 

 instead of one, leaving the greyhound pig as a 

 descendant of the European wild boar. But it 

 seems very doubtful if this last can be assumed. 

 Many of the more conspicuous differences be- 

 tween the wild and the tame pig of Europe are 

 the result of abortion of organs, arising from 

 disuse (Nathusius, " Schweineschadel," p. 99, et 

 scq.}, but there remain many difficulties. The 

 characteristic colour of the wild boar seems to 

 be seldom or never exhibited among tame pigs, 



