HEEDS Of WILD SWINE. 2G9 



common swine of European race, several species of peccaries, 

 or pigs with lumbar glands, two of which only are known 

 to the naturalists of Europe. The Indians call the little 

 peccary (Dicotiles torquatus, Cuv.), in the Maypure tongue, 

 chacharo ; while they give the name of apida to a species of 

 pig which they say has no pouch, is larger, and oi a dark 

 brown colour, with the belly and lower jaw white. The 

 chacharo, reared in the houses, becomes tame like our sheep 

 and goats. It reminds us, by the gentleness of its manners, 

 of the curious analogies which anatomists have observed 

 between the peccaries and the ruminating animals. The 

 apida, which is domesticated like our swine in Europe, 

 wanders in large herds composed of several hundreds. The 

 presence of these herds is announced from afar, not only by 

 their hoarse gruntings, but above all bv the impetuosity 

 with which they break down the shrubs in their way. M. 

 Bonpland, in an herborizing excursion, warned by his 

 Indian guide to hide himself behind the trunk of a tree, 

 saw a number of these peccaries (cocUnos or puercos del 

 monte) pass close by him. The herd marched in a close 

 body, the males proceeding first ; and each sow was accom- 

 panied by her young. The flesh of the chacharo is flabby, 

 and not very agreeable; it affords, however, a plentiful 

 nourishment to the natives, who kill these animals with 

 small lances tied to cords. We were assured at Atures, 

 that the tiger dreads being surrounded in the forests by 

 these herds of wild pigs ; and that, to avoid being stifled, 

 he tries to save himself by climbing up a tree. Is this a 

 hunter's tale, or a fact that has really been observed ? In 

 several parts of America the hunters believe in the existence 

 of ajavali, or native boar with tusks curved outwardly. I 

 never saw one, but this animal is mentioned in the works 

 of the Spanish missionaries, a source too much neglected 

 by zoologists ; for amidst much incorrectness and extrava- 

 gance, they contain many curious local observations. 



Among the monkeys which we saw at the mission of the 

 Atures, we found one new species, of the tribe of sais and 

 tajous, which the Creoles vulgarly call machis. It is the 

 ojuvapavi with grey hair and a bluish face. It has the 

 orbits of the eyes and the forehead as white as snow, a 

 peculiarity which at first sight distinguishes it from the 



