410 THE HOG. 



they acquire a certain wild and grisly aspect, never reassume 

 the true characters of the Wild Hog. They remain grega- 

 rious, the male continuing with the herd, and never betaking 

 himself to his solitary lair : they are somewhat more wild 

 and agile than the breeds of the lower country, but they never 

 regain the swiftness, the strength, and the courage of the 

 parent stock. 



Of the causes which produce this adaptation of the animal 

 to a new condition, one may be believed to be the difference 

 in the nature and supplies of aliment. 



When the Hog is brought from the wild to the domestic 

 state, food is supplied to him in larger quantity than he is 

 enabled to procure in his natural condition. This produces 

 an enlargement of certain parts of the body ; but the increase 

 of size in one part of the body necessarily implies a corres- 

 ponding modification in others. Thus, when the supplies of 

 food are increased, the size of the stomach and intestinal 

 canal, and consequently of the abdominal cavity, becomes 

 extended ; and this is indicated by a prolongation of the back, 

 and enlargement of the capacity of the trunk. To support 

 this increased volume, the limbs are placed at a greater la- 

 teral distance from one another. The tendency to secretion 

 of fat increases in a greater proportion than the tendency to 

 the production of muscle and bone. With these changes the 

 animal becomes less fitted for active motion, and the exercise 

 of his powers of self-defence ; and not only do those changes 

 take place in the individual, but he communicates them to 

 his progeny, and thus a form acquired becomes permanent in 

 the race. 



Nor are the changes which thus occur in the form and 

 characters of this animal, from alteration in the conditions in 

 which he is placed, of a slight or superficial kind. They are 

 often as great in degree as those employed to distinguish 

 species ; and if we were to apply the term species to indicate 

 differences of form alone, we might say that the Domesticated 

 Hog was specifically distinct from the Wild one. The num- 



