PREHISTORIC TIMES IN BRITAIN. 



559 



so long relatively to its height as is often the case in the non-domesticated Sus scrofa, 

 is yet longer than it is in Sus indicus, or in any of the Eastern pigs from which Sxts 

 indicus can with any probability be supposed to have descended. 



inches. 



Length from anterior external 

 angle (apex) of frontal to 

 middle of occipital ridge 



Length from apex of frontal to 

 apex of maxilla 



Length from anterior border of 

 orbit to temporal ridge . 



5-9 



4.1 



3-^ 



Length from anterior border of 



orbit to posterior . 

 Greatest width of occiput . 

 Length of molar series 

 Height of occiput 

 Height of lacrymal . 

 Length of lacrymo-malar suture . 



inches. 



1.4 

 2.4 

 2-3 

 3-8 

 0.7 

 0.8 



The difference here noted between the height of the lacrymal and the length of 

 its lower border amounts but to a tenth of an inch ; but in the female of Sus indicus, 

 with the same stage of dentition, fig. 4, the height of the lacrymal, instead of being 

 one tenth of an inch less, is 0'35 inch greater in length than its lacrymomalar 

 border. 



Fig. 2. Orbito-lacrymal region of Sus scrofa, var. ferus, old ?, from alluvium of 

 Thames valley, obtained for the Oxford University Museum from the cutting for the 

 drainage works near Iffley, 1876, by Professor Prestwich, F.K.S. 



This skull combines the general contour and the slender snout of Sus scrofa, var. 

 ferus, with a lacrymal bone differing little in its proportions from the lacrymals so 

 characteristic of the Asiatic pigs, less Sus verrucosus (and celebensis). The fronto- 

 parietal region does not form one continuous slope in the same plane as is the case in 

 the Wild Boar of Germany (PI. IV. fig. 5) ; but this difference may be observed in 

 skulls certainly of Wild Boars from the Thames-valley deposits ; whilst the great wear 

 of the teeth and the slenderness and length of the naso-facial region are much in 

 favour of considering this specimen to have belonged to the wild race. I have placed 

 side by side with the measurements of this skull the measurements given by 

 Kutimeyer, 1. c. pp. 45 and 183, of his ' Torfschwein,' Sus scrofa, var. palvstris. 

 Unhappily, Eiitimeyer has never been able to procure (see pp. 43 and 45, note i) 

 a skull of this variety of Sus with the facial bones in connexion with the brain-case, 

 nor has Nathusius (see p. 149, 1. c.) ever been able to see an uninjured lacrymal bone 

 from the same animal. These facts, whilst making the value of this skull (the oppor- 

 tunity of figuring which I owe to the kindness of Professor Prestwich) greater, make 

 the value of the comparison of its measurements less. 



The instructive observations of Nathusius (1. c. pp. 99-101), to the effect that 

 ill-nomished pigs have the entire length of their skulls greater as measured from the 

 occipital crest to the apex of the snout, whilst the portion of that length made up by 

 the frontal and parietal is somewhat shorter, and the nasal portion proportionally 

 longer, when coupled with the fact of the great wear of the teeth in this specimen, 

 enable us to explain the one great point of inferiority, that of the length of the fronto- 

 parietal region, which this skull's measurements show us, compared with those of the 

 • Torfschwein.' It may be added, that the true explanation of Dr. Gray's statement 

 •Brit. Mus, Catal.' 1869, p. 329), that the nasal bones of the skull elongate as Suidae 

 increase in age, * and especially as they reach adult and old age,' is probably that he 

 had in his mind's eye skulls of old and ill-fed wild pigs, such as this specimen. On the 

 other hand, when we are comparing such skulls as this with the ' Torfschwein ' of 

 Kutimeyer, we must recollect that he represents this latter variety of pig, and what he 



