154 Miscellaneous, 



species; of these only six are represented in Australia, and by only 

 sixteen species. He adds that he has not been " struck by any special 

 differences between the western and eastern portions of the archipe- 

 lago, so far as the Longicornia are concerned ;'* and says further, 

 " With regard to the Coleoptera generally, my impression is that 

 there is a fair admixture of forms from Singapore to New Guinea, 

 without any remarkable division between them anywhere ; but that 

 between the Australian and Malayan regions (including New Guinea) 

 the difference, on the contrary, is really something marvellous." 

 The weight to be attached to these observations will be more defi- 

 nitely ascertained when Mr. Pascoe has completed his descriptions 

 of the species. Under any circumstances, his work will prove a valu- 

 able contribution to entomological literature. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Note on Dr. Fitzinger*s Paper on Ptychochoerus plicifrons. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



I AM amused at Dr. Fitzinger's observation (Annals, ante^ p. 80) that 

 this Pig "has been imperfectly noticed by Bartlett and Gray.'* 

 Mr. Bartlett gave a figure and an account of the external appearance 

 and habits of the animal ; and in my paper I not only described its 

 external characters, but likewise described and figured the skull, and 

 pointed out how it differs from that of other Pigs. 



But my chief object in this note is to restate that there can be no 

 doubt that the Pig I described came from Japan. The ship that 

 brought it came direct fron^that island, and was never near Abyssinia. 

 Also to express my astonishment that Dr. Fitzinger should try to 

 identify it with the "Hassama" of the Abyssinians because that 

 "animal is black, has a short blunt head and large ears'* — a descrip- 

 tion that will fit several domestic breeds of the common Pig. If the 

 ** Hassama " had such a plaited face as the Japan Pig, it would not 

 have escaped Dr. T. Von Heuglin's observation. From the descrip- 

 tion, I suspect that the animal described by Dr. Fitzinger is only 

 one of the half-breeds bred between the typical Centuriosus pliciceps 

 and a common domestic sow of the Berkshire breed, several of which 

 were sent by a dealer to the Continent. 



Note on the so-called " Japanese^^ Pig (Centuriosus pliciceps. Gray ; 

 Ptychochoerus plicifrons, Fitzinger), By P. L. Sclater, M.A., 

 Ph.D., F.R.S. 



In the last number of the ' Annals,' I observed a notice of a paper 

 by Dr. L. J. Fitzinger in the * Sitzungsberichte ' of the Academy 

 of Vienna, in which it is stated to be Dr. Fitzinger's opinion that 

 Abyssinia, and not Japan, is the native country of this curious ani- 

 mal. In confirmation of this view. Dr. Fitzinger thinks it probable 

 that the new Pig recently discovered by Heuglin in Abyssinia, and 

 called JTafi5aw«, may be the same as the so-called "Japanese" Pig. 



