543 ON THE DOMESTIC PIG OF 



in the young', and secondly the presence of mandibular warts, such 

 as one of our domestic breeds, viz. the Galway greyhound pig, still 

 retains, or did till quite lately retain, we may be tempted to think 

 that some form allied to Sus verrucosus or Sus celehensis may have 

 been the single parent stock of all our domestic breeds, except, of 

 course, such as the Westphalian and Turkish, which are striped in 

 their youth, and would be referred to the indigenous Sus scrofa, var. 

 ferus, as their parent stock. In favour of such a view, we have, of 

 course, the general principle ' Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter 

 necessitatem.' 



But the wide range ^ of Sus vittatus, over Java side by side with 

 Sus verrucosus, over Borneo with Sus barbatns, and, as stated, also 

 over Amboyna, Macassar, Banka, and Sumatra, gives it special 

 claims to attention. This pig appears to me to be very closely 

 allied indeed to Sus cristatus, and to be similarly and readily dis- 

 tinguishable from our European wild boar. In this latter point I 

 differ from RUtimeyer (I. c. p. 187), whilst I should agree with him 

 in considering it all but identical with Sus leucomystax. The claims 

 of Sus vittatus and Sus leucomystax, and Sus iaivanus of Formosa 

 (occurring, as they do, in an area comprising Japan as well as Java), 

 to have given origin to Sus indicus, the domestic Chinese pig, in 

 days sufficiently far off to have allowed the tendency to striping of 

 the young to become eliminated, are very strong, and can scarcely 

 be considered antagonistic. 



Closely allied as Sus cristatus is to these races, its severe struggle 

 for existence entailed by its habitat on a continental area tenanted 



^ It is interesting to compare with these statements, as to the geographical distri- 

 bution of the Asiatic Suidae, the following words from M. Gabriel de Mortillet's 

 memoir in the ' Revue d' Anthropologic,' iv, 4. 1875, p. 653, as to the origin of 

 bronze : ' Reste le groupe de I'extr^me Orient Asiatique. C'est Ik dvidemment 

 oil il faut chcrcher I'origine du bronze. Les principaux gisements sont dans la pres- 

 qu'ile de Malacca et surtout dans I'ile de Banca, mais ils s'^tendent dans d'autres lies 

 de la Sonde et remontent j usque dans I'empire Birman oil I'etain est encore exploit^ 

 actuellement dans le district de Merguy. Ce mineral, dans tous ces gisements, se 

 recueille de la manifere la plus simple et la plus facile dans les alluvions. Ce sont 

 bien certainement les alluvions les plus riches du monde en etain et celles qui oc- 

 cupent la plus grande ^tendue. II est done tout naturel que ce soit celles qui les 

 premieres aient attird I'attention de I'homme. Le cuivre se rencontre dans les memes 

 t^gions. Tout le monde connalt les gisements de cuivre des lies de la Sonde, Timor, 

 Macassar, Borneo. La Birmanie anglaise pr^sente des mines de cuivre k cotd de ses 

 exploitations d'^tain. Le pays se trouve done dans les meilleures conditions pour 

 avoir vu naitre I'industrie du bronze.' Gallus tankiva, the parent stock of our 

 common fowl, is found over the same area. 



