PEEHISTORIC TIMES IN BKITAIN. 529 



There would be little weight to be laid upon mere differences in 

 size, even if much greater differences did exist between Sus scrofa, 

 YSLT.ferus, and Sus cristatus than a comparison of the measurements 

 given in the British Museum ' Catalogue of Carnivorous Pachyder- 

 matous and Edentate Mammalia,' 1869, pp. 334, ^o^j, 338, or a 

 comparison of the skulls themselves shows to be the case; for 

 Pallas's^ words and Nathusius's^ are both clear to the effect that 

 differences of as much as 50 per cent, do exist between individuals 

 of the Sus scrofa, \ax,ferus ; and a comparison of what I believe to 

 be the skull of an old wild sow, from the alluvium of the Thames, 

 near Oxford, with that of a modern wild boar, will put the matter 

 beyond all question. 



According to Nathusius^, the differences in size between the 

 largest and the smallest wild swine are so considerable as to have 

 caused them to be distinguished by such names as ' Hauptschweine ' 

 and 'Kiimmerer' respectively; the latter of which terms has an 

 equivalent in the word ' Wreckling/ applied in some parts of Eng- 

 land to the supernumerary pig in a litter, i. e. to the one which 

 makes the litter exceed the number of available teats, and fares 

 accordingly. Two or three of the commonly reported facts ^ as to 

 the pairing and period of reproduction of the wild swine account 

 very sufficiently for these great differences in their size. Though 

 the males are monogamous, severe battles nevertheless take place 

 between them for the possession, it is said, of the largest females ; 

 the smallest females consequently are left for the vanquished, which 

 will usually be the smallest males. Hence a great difference in the 

 two sets of offspring would be reasonably expected. But, further, 

 it is known that the wild, like the tame * swine, will breed long 



that animal food must have been supplied by one or other of the three animals 

 named. And his reason for such truth as his conclusions contain is, it is to be feared, 

 but a poor one ; it runs thus, ' le Cochon ^tant I'animal qui sympathise le moins par 

 ses qualites affectives avec I'espece humaine a dii etre celui qu'elle aura le moins 

 r^pugne k tuer de sangfroid pour s'en nourrir ; ce qui aura eu lieu plus tard et avec 

 bien plus de repugnance pour le Moutou et pour le Bceuf.' 

 ^ * Zoographia,' 1831, p. 267. 



* * Schweineschadel,* 1864, p. 65. 



^ See Richardson, 'Domestic Pigs,' pp. 18, 19 (Warne, London); Samuel Sidney, 

 *The Pig,' p. 4 (Routledge, London); Blasius, ' Saugethiere,' p. 509, 1857 ; Wagner, 

 'Saugethiere,' p. 426, 1835 ; Brandt and Ratzeburg, ' Medizinische Zoologie,' p. 88, 

 1829. 



* For the period at which tame sows will breed, see Sidney, Z. c. p. 61 ; Low, 'On 

 the Domesticated Animals of the British Islands,' p. 415. 



M m 



