556 ON THE DOMESTIC PIG OF 



of Italy [ibidem^ plates xiv. i, xv. 17 and 37, xix. 4), which have as 

 close a zoological as legendary connexion with the wild boar of 

 Calydon, on the other side of the Adriatic (see ' Thesaurus,' Bran- 

 denburg, i. pp. 318 and 464, 1696, and ' Thesaurus Numismaticus,' 

 i. p. 400, and tab. xl). 



Of the two bronze statuettes given me by Mr. John Evans, one 

 has the long slender snout, and the mane reaching the whole 

 length of the convex back, from the prominent ears to the curled 

 tail, which may justify us in considering it as intended for a wild 

 boar; the other combines the sturdy straddle, and the long and 

 large erect mane, beginning on the forehead and in front of the 

 erect ears, characteristic of a wild boar, with a snout as dispropor- 

 tionately short, and tusks as reduced as we ever see them in the 

 highest-bred qiodern Chinese pig. The characters of the wild and 

 tame varieties, however, being thus inaccurately and inartistically 

 combined in these statuettes, cause them to contrast disadvan- 

 tageously with the Italian works of art just mentioned ; but they 

 furnish us with a conclusive answer to the weak reasoning of De 

 Blainville (' Osteographie/ Sus, p. 170), expressed in the following 

 words : — 



' Du temps de C^sar, il paralt cependant qu'elle (la culture du cochon) n'dtait pas 

 encore parvenue dans las Gaules, car il n'est nuUeinent question de cet animal dans 

 ses Commentaires ; elle s'y est done propag^e depuis la conquete, d'oti elle a pass^ en 

 Angleterre, qui ne poss^dait pas meme de sanglier dans ses forets ! ' 



If further answer were required to this astounding statement, a 

 reference to Mr. Evans's work on British Coinage would furnish 

 it — figures of the boar, some of which are exceedingly characteristic, 

 being given there on pis. vi, viii, xi, xii, and xiii, from those 

 ancient coins. But all well-informed antiquaries are aware that 

 the wild boar is one of the earliest animals figured in Celtic works 

 of art (see ' Horae Ferales,' p. 1 85, pi. xiv ; Montellier, ' Me moires 

 sur les Bronzes Antiques,' Paris, 1865; and Stephens, 'Literature 

 of Kymry,' p. 330). 



Professor Riitimeyer's paper in the 'Verhandlungen der natur- 

 forschenden Gesellschaft in Basel,' iv. i, 1864, is, I apprehend, re- 

 ferred to by Mr. Darwin when he says ('Animals and Plants under 

 Domestication," i. p. 71, ijnd ed. 1875) that 'Riitimeyer himself 

 seems now to feel some doubt ' as to whether the ' Torfschwein ' ex- 

 isted as a wild animal during the first part of the stone period. No 



