XX V] ARTIODACTYLA 691 



the great plains of Africa and also of North America. The Artio- 

 dactyla may be divided into a higher and a lower section. 



The lower section may broadly be called the Pigs, SUINA. 

 They retain four toes on fore- and hind-feet, have a 

 snout ending in a round flat surface and are all gross 

 feeders, eating not only roots of various kinds but also small animals 

 if they come in their way. Their teeth are covered with tubercles 

 a good deal blunter than the cusps on the teeth of an Insectivore 

 but still of the same essential nature. Such teeth are termed 

 bunodont, whence the name BUNODONTIA (Gr. jSowo's, a hill or 

 mound) has sometimes been applied to this division. The Hippo- 

 potamus, the sole representative of the family HIPPOPOTAMIDAE, is 

 nothing but an enormous Pig ; it differs from the ordinary Pig in 

 having all its toes of equal length, whereas in the true Pig .the 

 outer (second and fifth) toes are small and do not reach the ground. 

 The Hippopotamus spends most of its time in rivers and swamps 

 feeding on the reedy vegetation of such places. It has exceedingly 

 powerful jaws and when wounded has been known to crush a canoe 

 between them. The true Pig belongs to the family SUIDAE and is a 

 domesticated variety of the Wild Boar, Sus scrofa, which, as is well 

 known, survived in England until the middle ages and still exists 

 in Europe. In the male the canines, or eye-teeth, are powerfully 

 developed, those of the lower jaw projecting upwards outside the 

 mouth. In the Babirusa, Bdbirusa alfurus, of Celebes, the upper 

 canines do not enter the mouth but are bent upwards and pass 

 through special holes in the skin, curving back over the head like 

 horns. They grow persistently, their roots being kept open. The 

 Pigs are not strictly vegetable feeders but are really scavengers, 

 eating every vegetable or animal substance they encounter, the 

 food they seek especially consisting of roots. A very interesting 

 genus, the Peccary, is represented by two species, Dicotyles taja$u 

 and D. labiatus, which inhabit the American continent. The 

 former ranges from Patagonia to the Red River of Arkansas, the 

 latter between Paraguay and British Honduras. The name means 

 "two navels" and was suggested by the presence of a large gland in 

 the middle of the back resembling a navel. On the hind-foot the 

 fifth toe is wanting, so that there are only three toes; but the position 

 of the axis of symmetry is still between the third and fourth toes. 

 The Peccaries go in droves and are most dangerous antagonists; 

 climbing a tree is the only chance of safety to a hunter who meets 

 a herd. 



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