PIGS. 425 



naked surface at the extremity, in which are situated the nostrils, the disc being 

 supported by an additional separate bone at the extremity of the skull, as shown 

 in our figure. The feet are narrow, and carry four completely -developed toes, 

 of which the hindmost do not touch the ground in walking, while the inner 

 surfaces of the main pair are flattened. The molar teeth are narrow, the last 

 one in both the upper and lower jaw being more or 

 less elongated ; and the large tusks grow continuously 

 throughout life, those of the upper jaw curving up- 

 wards, instead of pointing downwards, after the usual 

 fashion. Swine have large flapping ears, and rather 

 long cylindrical tails, with a tuft at the end. Their 



. . . THE LAST RIGHT LOWER MOLAR 



bodies are more or less sparsely clothed with bristly tooth of a pio. 



hairs, and their stomachs are quite simple. Like all 



unspecialised Ungulates, swine have the neck short and thick, and imperfectly 

 differentiated both from the body and the head, the latter being consequently 

 carried low. The whole of the existing members of the family are restricted to 

 the Old World ; and they chiefly frequent damp or swampy districts, and are fond 

 of wallowing in wet mud. 



The True Pigs. 



Genus Sus. 



The typical representatives of the Pig family, such as the European wild 



boar, are characterised by having forty-four teeth, among which the last molar in 



each jaw is greatly elongated, while the thick and short upper tusk is turned 



sharply upwards, and has a large smooth facet worn on the outer side of its 



upturned extremity by the abrasion of the inner surface of the extremity of the 



lower tusk. Consequently, if either tusk happens to be broken, the opposing 



one continues to grow indefinitely, and, from its curved form, generally pierces 



some portion of the skull with its tip, thus ultimately leading to the death of 



the animal which has had the misfortune to meet with an accident of this nature. 



In addition to the bristly hairs, there is generally a more or less developed woolly 



under-fur. The skull of the pigs, besides the presence of the additional bone in 



the snout already mentioned, is remarkable for the great length of the nasal 



bones, and also for the high elevation of the crest of the occiput, which is generally 



even more developed than in the specimen figured here. In wild pigs the profile 



of the face is straight, although in most domesticated races it is more or less 



concave. Pigs are exceedingly prolific animals; and the young of all the wild 



species (as shown in our illustration) are marked with light longitudinal stripes, 



although these markings are very rarely observed in those of domesticated 



breeds. 



_. .__ . The distributional area of the genus, before curtailed by human 



Distribution. fe > J 



agency, was extensive, comprising the greater part or Europe, 



Southern, and a portion of Central, Asia, Japan, the islands of the Malayan 



region, and Africa. The two species inhabiting Africa south of the Sahara 



