C'HAr. III. THEIR VARIATION. 71 



form. Pigs of this type liave existed during a long period 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean, for a figure (Schweine- 

 schadel, s. 142) closely resembling the existing Neapolitan pig 

 wati found in the buried city of Herculaneum. 



Eutimeyer has made the remarkable discovery that there 

 lived contemporaneously in Switzerland, during the Neo- 

 lithic period, two domesticated forms, the S. scrofn, and the 

 S. scrofa palustris or Torfschwein. Eutimeyer perceived that 

 the latter approached the Eastern breeds, and, according to 

 Natluxsius, it certainly belongs to the S. indicus group ; but 

 Kiitimeyer has subsequently sho-mi that it diifers in some 

 well-marked characters. This author was formerly convinced 

 that his Torfschwein existed as a wild animal during the 

 first part of the Stone period, and Avas domesticated during 

 a later part of the same period.^ Nathusius, whilst he fully 

 admits the curious fact first observed by Elitimej^er, that the 

 bones of domesticated and wild animals can be distinguished 

 by their different aspect, yet, from special difficulties in the 

 case of the bones of the pig (Schwcineschadel, s. 147), is not 

 convinced of the truth of the above conclusion ; and Eutimeyer 

 himself seems now to feel some doubt. Other naturalists 

 have also argixed strongly on the same side as Nathusius.^ 



Several breeds, differing in the proportions of the body, in 

 the length of the ears, in the nature of the hair, in colour, &c., 

 come under the S. indicus type. Nor is this surprising, con- 

 sidering how ancient the domestication of this form has been 

 both in Europe and in China. In this latter country the 

 date is believed by an eminent Chinese scholar ^ to go back 

 at least 4900 years from the present time. This same scholar 

 alludes to the existence of many local varieties of the pig in 

 China ; and at the present time the Chinese take extraordi- 

 nary pains in feeding and tending their pigs, not even 

 allowing them to walk from place to place.^ Hence these 

 pigs, as Nathusius has remarked,^ display in an eminent degree 



^ ' Pfahlbauten.' s. 163, et passim. ' Stan. Julien, quoted by de Blain- 



*• (SVe J. W.Schvitz' interesting essay, ville, ' Osteographie,' p. 163. 



'Zur Kenntniss des Torf'schweins, * Richardson, 'Pigs, their Origin,' 



1868. This author believes that the &c., p. 26. 



Torfschwein is descended from a * ' Die Racen des Schweines,' s. 47.. 



distinct species, the S. sennariensis of 64. 



Central Africa. 



