20 THE HOG. 



distinguished by decided external characteristics. It would he into- 

 resting and important to know, whether the numerical ratio of the 

 vertebrae, as given in the foregoing table, is constant in each race ; 

 and also whether the same variation does not obtain among others 

 of our domestic animals, divided into numerous breeds or races, 

 as the dog, the sheep, and the goat. The subject has not been treat- 

 ed so fully and extensively as it deserves. With respect to the 

 caudal vertebrae, indeed, we know that they are subject to great nu- 

 merical variation in most of our domestic animals ; witness the dog 

 and even the common fowl, of which latter, a tailless breed, perpe- 

 tuated from generation to generation, is far from being uncommon. 

 What takes place in one part of the spinal column may, we conceive, 

 occur also in another and more important portion, to some, if not to 

 so great an extent ; and the modification may moreover be trans- 

 mitted from one generation to another. 



Examples of extraordinary modification in other parts of the 

 skeleton, transmissible from generation to generation, may be here 

 adduced in confirmation of our views. Aristotle notices a race of 

 hogs with undivided toes, or rather with hoofs consolidated together; 

 and Linnaeus informs us that a similar variety of the hog is not un- 

 frequent in the neighborhood of Upsal, in Sweden. A still more 

 extraordinary case of modification of the osseous framework, is re- 

 corded in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1833, p. 16, 

 where will be found the notice of a race of pigs with only two legs, 

 the hinder extremities being entirely wanting. The communication, 

 with drawings of two individuals, was made by Colonel Hallam, 

 who states that these animals were observed " at a town on the 

 coast in the Tanjore country, in the year 1795 ; they were from a 

 father and mother of a similar make, and the pigs bred from them 

 were the same." Thus, then, accidental malformations, either by 

 excess or deficiency, may become transmissible, and so perpetuate 

 themselves. 



The views of a writer ir the Penny Cyclopcedia, on the subject 

 of the osteological differences observable in domestic swine, are 

 much in accordance with our own. Undoubtedly, he remarks, such 

 records as those given by Mr. Eyton are valuable, but he thinks 

 that the inference is precipitate ; adding, that John Hunter's theories 

 are not so easily done away with, and that osteological character 

 will continue to be a criterion of species, notwithstanding the differ- 

 ences set forth. He says, " By the term pig, we understand the 

 African and Chinese varieties of the hog. Phacochoerus cannot bo 

 meant, or it would be staled. The pure Chinese breed was imported 

 long ago ; and for years its stock, bred from its union with our Eng- 

 lish varieties, has been known in our farm-yards. The varieties 

 bred by man from the wild hog, are spread all over the world in a 

 domesticated state ; and there is no more reason to doubt that the 



