THE HOG, 



CHAPTER I. 



Zoological definition of the Pig The order Pachyderm ata The Peccary The Babiroussa Th 

 Pnaco-choeres The Capibara Various animals have been called Icy the name of Hog. 



THE Hoo, (Suidae Sus of the ancients and Linnaeus,) according 

 to Cuvier, belongs to " the class MAMMAUA, order PACHYDERMATA, 

 genus SUIDAE or Sus, having on each foot two large principal toes 

 shod with stout hoofs, and two lateral toes much shorter and scarcely 

 touching the earth; the incisors variable in number, the lower in- 

 cisors all levelled forwards ; the canines projected from the mouth 

 and recurved upwards ; the muzzle terminated by a truncated snout 

 fitted for turning up the ground ; the stomach but little divided ; the 

 body square and thick, and more or less covered with bristles and 

 hairs; the neck strong and muscular; the legs short and stout.' 1 

 (Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, vol. iii.) 



The suidce are robust and massive in their form, Jow in the limbs, 

 flat-sided, with immense muscular development in the neck and 

 fore-quarters. The head is wedge-shaped, with an elongated snout, 

 terminating in a round or oval disc of cartilage, called in common 

 language the button ; this .disc is pierced by the nostrils, and pos- 

 sesses great power of mobility, being supplied by several strong 

 muscles; it is, moreover, strengthened and supported by a small 

 extra bone, as in the instance of the mole also, and is used with great 

 facility as an instrument for ploughing up the ground in quest of 

 roots for food. The lower jaw is deep and strong, and the symphy, 

 sis of the chin is completely ossified, and not, as in ruminants, united 

 by suture. The mouth is wide, opening to a degree almost unpa- 

 rallelled among terrestrial mammalia. The jaws are armed with 

 foists, which grow to a large size, pass from between the lips, 

 and are weapons of tremendous effect ; the tusks of the lower jaw 

 advance before those of the upper, which turn obliquely upwards 

 and outwards. In the peccaries, the tusks are but little developed ; 



