456 RECORDS OF BIG GAME 



CAPE BUSH-PIG (Sus [Potamochcerus] choeropotamus). 

 Bosch-vark of the Boers. Ingulubi of the Svvazis and Zulus. 



The bush-pigs, or river-hogs, of Africa and Madagascar form a 

 peculiar group of swine characterised by having only 42, in place of 

 44, teeth, small tusks, and a large ridge-like prominence on each side 

 of the face, due to the presence of a ridge of bone on the sheath of the 

 tusk. The ears are generally surmounted with tufts of long hair. 

 The various species are best distinguished by the character of their 

 skulls, colour forming a very uncertain guide. The Cape bush-pig, or 

 bosch-vark, is very generally grey, but the late Sir Andrew Smith 

 stated that " scarcely any two specimens of this species exhibit the 

 same colours ; some are a brownish black variegated with white, and 

 others are almost entirely of a light reddish-brown or rufous tint, with- 

 out any white markings ; indeed, such are the varieties that it is 

 scarcely possible to say what are the prevailing colours." In British 

 Central Africa, where they have been wrongly identified with the West 

 African species, they are invariably reddish. Height at shoulder 

 about 3 i inches ; weight, 3 5 Ibs. Lower tusks average 6 to 7 inches 

 long, and a good specimen shot by Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby had tusks 

 protruding 4^ inches from the jaw. 



Distribution. South and South-East Africa. 



Length. Exposed ,. 



Upper. Lower. Oonfgun, 



3j 6A N.E. Rhodesia . . Hon. Walter Rothschild. 



