740 



SUS. 



than on the hind ones ; the neck has an inclination 

 upwards, and the head is carried higher than in the 

 hogs. The outline of the back is also different ; in the 

 hog it is almost a uniform convex curve from the nape 

 to the rump, at least in the more plump breeds, where 

 they are fattened ; but in the peccaries, it is a curve 

 of a contrary flexure, being concave behind the shoul- 

 ders, and convex toward the rump. The body of the 

 peccary is thick and paunchy, as are the bodies of all 

 the pachydermata, but still the outline of the back indi- 

 cates more elasticity and freedom of motion in the 

 spine than the hogs possess ; it is the want of flexibi- 

 lity in that part which makes the hogs dodge in so 

 remarkable a manner up and down, when they gallop, 

 and which makes this motion so fatiguing to them in 

 proportion to their actual strength. They not only 

 carry forward the centre of gravity of the body, as 

 is done by every animal, however smoothly it may 

 walk or gallop, but they lift it up and let it down, 

 and also shift it backwards and forwards, in the 

 course of every step that they take. Moving the 

 centre of gravity of an animal is the very same as 

 moving the whole volume and weight of the 

 animal ; and in as far as the motions are up and 

 down they are very fatiguing. Say that a fat hog of 

 half a ton tries to gallop, and it has to lift half a ton 

 from the ground at every leap, while it comes down 

 with the momentum of the weight of the same, as 

 acquired from the depth of the descent. This, by 

 the way, is the reason why pigs, when they run over 

 a garden, do so much mischief with their feet as 

 compared with smooth running animals of equal 

 weight ; it is also because the porpoises make similar 

 boundings in the water, in consequence of the stiff- 

 ness of their spine, that they get the name of sea hogs. 



The peccaries are not wholly exempt from this 

 bumping motion, but they have it in a much less 

 degree than the hogs ; and thus, if they are less 

 powerful in repelling an attack, they are better able 

 to escape from it by flight. The teeth of the pec- 

 caries are, four incisors in the upper jaw and six in 

 the lower, one canine in each side of each jaw, but 

 not projecting out of the mouth as in the hogs, and 

 six cheek teeth in each side of each jaw; the cranium 

 of the peccaries is very short, and in this respect it 

 resembles that of the babyroussa much more than 

 any other of the genus Sus, and the lower jaw is so 

 locked in its articulation, that it has even less lateral 

 motion than theirs, limited as that is. 



Both the species of this genus are gentle and harm- 

 less animals, living in the rich forests, and not requiring 

 or possessing any degree of resource. They keep toge- 

 ther in packs, which appear to have considerable 

 attachment to each other ; but, though it has been 

 said that they combine for mutual defence against the 

 jaguar, and even against man, and that their united 

 efforts are sufficient to destroy either the one or the 

 other, yet it does not appear that there is any truth 

 in these sayings. The desire of personal safety ap- 

 pears to get the better of every other upon these 

 occasions, and the pack may be destroyed one by 

 one without any of the survivors appearing to take 

 the slightest interest in the fate of the fallen. The 

 Indians seem to be well aware of these circumstances, 

 for when they meet with a herd or pack of pecca- 

 ries they are sure to return to their places of abode 

 loaded with provisions. There are two species of 

 this genus, or subgenus, of which we shall give slight 

 polices. 



The collared Peccary (D. collarl^y This species 

 is about two feet and a half in length from the point 

 of the muzzle to the base of the tail, and it stands a 

 foot and a half high at the shoulder, and a foot and 

 eight inches- at the most elevated part of the crupper. 

 The hair with which it is covered is thick and rough, 

 annulated with alternate black and white, which 

 gives it the appearance of being dotted with these 

 two colours. On the neck the white predominates, 

 and this gives it the appearance of having a collar, 

 from which circumstance it has obtained the common 

 name given to it. The legs and feet are entirely 

 black, but the whole skin of the body is of a livid 

 whitish colour ; the pupils of the eyes are round, but 

 it should seem that their sight is but feeble, and that, 

 as is the case with the hogs, smelling is the most 

 powerful of their senses, and the one upon which they 

 have the principal dependence in the finding of their 

 food, which they do in the twilight, basking and 

 reposing in the little glades of the woods during the 

 heat of the day. In this species the tail is little more 

 than a mere rudiment, and the female has only two 

 mammue, which circumstance alone would be sufficient 

 to distinguish them from all the hogs of the eastern 

 continent. The glandular pouch on the back gives 

 out a strong smell of garlic ; but the use of the pouch 

 or the secretion in the economy of the animal, is 

 wholly unknown. This odour is given out in the 

 greatest abundance when the animal is irritated, as 

 then it erects the bristles on the neck arid along the 

 line of the back, by which means the gland is more 

 compressed than when the animal is in a tranquil 

 state. When alarmed, it utters a sharp and piercing 

 kind of squeak, but not quite so piteous as that which is 

 uttered by a hog in distress ; like hogs, too, they 

 express their satisfaction by a softened species of 

 grunting. They are inhabitants of the woods in the 

 lower grounds on the east side of South America ; 

 but we are not aware that they have been met with 

 to the westward of the Andes, and they never occur 

 in lofty situations. Bulfon committed a curious 

 blunder respecting this species of peccary. The 

 Spanish colonists in Paraguay, from whom he drew 

 the materials of his account of the locality and habits 

 of the animal, use the word monte as descriptive of a 

 forest j and Buffbn, confounding this with the French 

 inont, described this peccary as a mountain animal, 

 which is the very reverse of its proper habitat. The same 

 eloquent, but fanciful and not very accurate describer, 

 represented the pale-coloured collar, which obliquely 

 surrounds the neck of this species, as a dorsal stripe 

 extending along the ridge of the back. 



These animals are found in pairs in the breeding 

 season, and at these times they rarely, if ever, come 

 out of the forest. The female produces, as is under- 

 stood, only once in the year ; and the young are 

 generally two, and never more. They are easily tarned, 

 and fond of being caressed, but they are also impa- 

 tient of restraint, and if detained against their will, 

 the}' not only erect their dorsal bristles, and utter 

 their war cry, but attempt to bite, which they do pretty 

 severely. Some that have been kept in menageries 

 in Europe, have shown much docility, as compared 

 with the hog when in the wild state. They preferred 

 fruits and farinaceous vegetable substances to any 

 other kind of food ; but still when that was not given 

 them, they could be very miscellaneous in their feed- 

 ing. Well-known as these animals ought to be, there 

 have been some mistakes about them ; and the man* 



