390 



REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



which are readily distinguished by their being of a larger size. 

 In the third year, two other small teeth drop out, one from 

 each side, and are replaced by two large ones, so that there are 

 now four large teeth in the middle, and two pointed ones on 

 each side. In the fourth year the large teeth are six in num- 

 ber, and two small ones remain, one at each end of the range. 

 In the fifth year, the remaining small teeth are lost, and the 

 whole front teeth are large. In the sixth year, the whole 

 begin to be worn, and in the seventh, sometimes sooner, some 

 fall out or are broken. 



V. THE HOG. 



Species and Varieties. Of the genus Sus three species are peculiar to the 

 Old Continent and its islands: 1. Sus babyrussa The Babyroussa, confined 

 to the Indian Archipelago. 2. Sus larvatus The African Boar, a very fierce 

 and powerful creature, living in holes, and never yet domesticated. 3. Sus 

 aper The Wild Boar. 



Of these species, the most widely distributed, and the most important, is the 

 wild boar. He is found in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the islands of the 

 Eastern seas. He is the parent stock of the domestic hog and its varieties. 



The wild boar is a bold and powerful animal. He dwells for the most part, 

 in moist and shady situations, and he feeds chiefly on plants and roots. In a 

 state of nature his senses are acute, his ears very moveable, and his touch and 

 smell so delicate, as to lead him to his food below ground, which he grubs up 

 with his strong and flexible trunk, and this faculty he retains when in a state 

 of slavery. 



The female carries her young about four months, and she is rarely seen 

 with the males but in the rutting season. She suckles her young for several 

 months, and retains them near her for a considerable time afterwards, to de- 

 fend them. When assailed, she protects her offspring with amazing courage, 

 and the young reward her cares by a long attachment. She is sometimes seen 

 to be followed by several families, forming a troop, formidable to their assail- 

 ants, and destructive, by their ravages, to the cultivated fields. A remarkable 

 contrast with the long cares of the female, is the solitary habit of the adult 

 male, who will even, at their birth, destroy his own young, a singular in- 

 stinct of nature, given for some purpose that is unknown to us. 



Although the domestic hog loses many of the characters of the wild race, 

 he retains enough of them to prove his affinity; and all question upon the sub- 

 ject of his origin is removed by the change produced upon his progeny by do- 

 mestication. 



One of the most remarkable circumstances in the history of the domestic 

 hog is, his general distribution over so many countries and distant islands 3 

 where no trace of any wild animal of the species exists in record or tradition. 

 He was found extensively in the islands of the South Sea, when first visited 

 by European voyagers, furnishing the principal animal food of the natives; 

 and he exists in vast numbers in China, and the islands of the east. But 

 what is remarkable, he is not indigenous in America, but was carried thither 

 by the Spaniards; and he is not found amongst the quadrupeds of New Hol- 

 land, though he has now multiplied greatly there. This universal diffusion 

 he seems to owe to his extraordinary fecundity, his adaptation to every cli- 

 mate, and the facility with which he may be transported from one place to 

 another. 



^The hog, though chiefly herbivorous in his natural state, maybe fed equally 

 well on animal food. It is this which renders him the most easily and cheaply 

 reared of all the domestic quadrupeds. 



