-MAMMALIA.- 



189 



are greatly attracted thereto by any attempt which is 

 made to escape from them. Such as trust to their 

 speed are for the most part soon overtaken, and receive 

 a cut of the tusk in each thigh, the boar putting his 

 nose between their knees, and giving them a violent 

 toss!" For the greater part of the year the boar is 

 found alone, but during the spring hunters often 

 come upon a pair and their litter. At such times the 

 sow offers no inconsiderable resistance, and frequently 

 punishes her enemies with a remarkably severe bite. 

 One which attacked Captain Williamson seized him 

 by the foot, which, on being suddenly withdrawn by 

 the hunter, left part of the boot in her mouth ! During 

 the season of love, the boars display towards each 

 other the most ungovernable animosity. The period 

 of gestation extends over a space of one hundred and 

 twenty days, the domestic sow producing from ten 

 to fourteen pigs at a single litter. The voracity and 

 destructive habits of the hog are too well known to 

 require description. According to Vander Hoeven, 

 single-hoofed varieties exist hi the neighbourhood of 

 Upsal, and also, it is stated, in some parts of Hungary. 

 Into the merits of pork we do not enter ; nevertheless 

 it is fortunate that multitudes of people enjoy a food 

 which is so easily accessible. As to its ancient pro- 

 hibition in the East, one might almost be inclined to 

 believe that it was originally forbidden on account of 

 the pig's liability to be infested with young cystic larvae 

 or scolices of the common tape worm found in man ; 

 and yet it is perhaps necessary that the Tcenia solium 

 should dwell in its human host; and therefore meazled 

 pork is occasionally eaten ! We cannot here further 

 discuss this curious question. 



THE MASKED BOAB, (Sus larvatus), or BOSCH-VARK 

 is an inhabitant of the plains and forests of South- 

 eastern Africa, the Cape, and the island of Madagascar. 

 It is a large animal, between five and six feet long, and 

 standing about two feet four inches in height at the 

 shoulder, presenting a truly formidable appearance. 

 Its hideousness is much increased by the presence of 

 two nipple-like warty excrescences on either side of the 

 muzzle near the tusks ; these are supported on bony 

 protuberances. The canines are large ; the superior 

 pair projecting horizontally. The hide exhibits a dirty 

 brown colour, and is furnished with bristles which 

 have a more marked development on the neck and 

 back. The tail is about a foot long and tufted at the 

 extremity. 



THE PAPUAN BOAB (Sus Papuensis), or BENE, is a 

 smaller species, scarcely exceeding half the length of 

 the preceding, and of a much more slender build. It 

 is tolerably abundant in the forests of New Guinea. 

 The superior canines are comparatively feeble, resem- 

 bling the incisors. The hide is clothed with short, 

 stoutish bristles, which are ringed with black and 

 white, the skin of the young pig is brown, the back 

 being marked by five yellowish bands. In the young 

 state these animals are captured and reared by the 

 natives for food ; the pork being highly esteemed, not 

 only by themselves, but by European colonists also. 



THE BABYHOTTSSA (Babirussa alfurus} is an in- 

 habitant of Celebes, Bourou, and other easterly islands 

 of the Indian Archipelago. By the natives it is 

 absurdly called the stag-hog, from its standing rather 

 high upon its legs ; and the erroneous figure given by Piso 

 in his edition of the " Natural History of East India," 



Fig. 73. 



The Babyroussa (Babirussa alfurusj. 



by Bontius, is calculated to give force to this palpable 

 misnomer. The jaws are furnished with thirty-two 

 teeth ; that is, eight incisors, four canines, and twenty 

 molars. The canines of the upper jaw are enormously 

 enlarged in the male; and, ascending from then: sockets, 



which are also directed upwards, they arch over the 

 face, their crowns being directed backwards and down- 

 wards. The corresponding tusks of the lower jaw are 

 also very conspicuously developed (fig. 73). The canines 

 are not enlarged in the female, and she exhibits a more 



