THE HOG FAMILY. 337 



The Hog family may be divided into three well-marked groups : 1, the True Swine, consisting 

 of three genera, Sus, Potamochcerus, and Babirusa ; 2, the Wart Hogs, represented by one genus, 

 Phacochrerus ; and 3, the Peccaries, represented also by one genus, Dicotyles. They have three kinds 

 of teeth incisors, canines, and boss-covered or transversely ridged grinders slender limbs, and the 

 third and fourth toes are considerably larger than the second and fifth. 



In order to enable the Hog family to " root " or turn up the ground, they are provided with a 

 truncated and cylindrical proboscis, or snout, which is capable of considerable movement. The skin is 

 more or less supplied abundantly with hair, and the tail is short, and in some cases merely represented 

 by a tubercle. 



The sense of smell in the Hog is very acute, and when its broad snout ploughs up the herbage, 

 not a root, an insect, or a worm, escapes the olfactory sense. Although credited with stupidity, the 

 Hog in its native state is to be styled anything but a dull and lethargic animal, neither is it the filthy 

 animal that domestication has reduced it to. Properly cared for, the Pig is as cleanly in its habits, 

 and as capable of strong attachment, as any other creature. 



No animal that is mentioned in the Bible not even the Dog is spoken of with more abhorrence 

 than the Pig ; and even at the present day a Jew or Mohammedan looks upon this creature with 

 anything but a generous feeling, treating it as something utterly detestable. So great was the 

 horror with which the older Jews regarded the Hog, that they would not even mention it by name> 

 but called it "the abomination." The origin of the great antipathy which the Jews have always 

 experienced for the Pig appears to be lost in antiquity. In Lev. xi. 7, the Hog is spoken of with other 

 animals as being unclean and unfitted for food, simply because it did not chew the cud, although the 

 hoof was divided. It has, however, been suggested that the Pig was so strictly prohibited by Moses 

 from being eaten, on account of its flesh being supposed in a hot country to cause skin-diseases, and 

 especially the dreaded leprosy ; but it is to be doubted whether Moses is to be considered as the 

 originator of the horror with which the Hog has been and still is regarded. It seems probable that 

 this disgust dates from a period of far greater antiquity than that of Moses ; and it is certain that 

 the flesh of Swine can be eaten in hot countries without producing any bad effects. It is a matter 

 of considerable wonder, that while Swine are held in such abhorrence, we read of herds being so 

 often kept in Palestine. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (viii. 28-34), we read of a herd of Swine 

 being entered by devils, and which, so possessed, rushed down a hill and were drowned in the sea. 

 Again, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, we are told of his becoming a swineherd. Although 

 Pigs were so much disliked, the Jews were evidently well acquainted with their habits, as we read 

 in the Second Epistle of St. Peter (ii. 22), where the apostle refers to the fact of Pigs wallowing in 

 the mire. It is also remarkable that with the exception of one passage in the Bible, the mention of 

 the Hog is confined to those in a domesticated state, this exception being found in Psalm Ixxx. 13 : 

 " The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it." 



The genus Sus, or Hog proper, ranges, in the wild state, over the greater portion of the Old World, 

 through Central and Southern Europe into Central and Southern Asia, and as far to the east and south 

 as New Guinea. It is also met with in the North African forests, in the region north of the Sahara 

 desert. It is conspicuous by its absence from North and South America, Australia, and the cold 

 northern regions of Europe and Asia. 



The adult teeth in the True Hogs (genus Sits) are forty-four, of which there are in each jaw 

 three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and three true molars. The canines are very variable in 

 size, being reduced to a minimum under domestication, and arriving at a maximum in the wild males. 



THE WILD BOAR* inhabits Europe, North Africa, and Hindostan, each country having its own 

 peculiar type or race, which sometimes is so marked as to constitute separate species in the opinion 

 of first-rate naturalists. 



The Wild Boar is distinguished by a body generally of a dusky-brown or greyish colour, having a 

 tendency to black, and being diversified with black spots. The canines or tusks in the male are long 

 and powerful, and project beyond the upper lip, the mouth is large, and the elongated head is set on 

 a short neck rising out of a thick and muscular body. The size is variable, an old Wild Boar recorded 

 by Desn arest being five feet nine inches long, while a four-year-old of the more ordinary size measured 



* Sus scrofa. 

 92 



