68 



THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



meet the question whether he has to do 

 with a reversion to the wild state, or an 

 adaptation to the conditions of more or less 

 complete domestication. 



Be that as it may, our wild-boar has its 

 head in the form of an elongated pyramid, 

 with a flat brow and thick proboscis, behind 

 which project the strong sharp tusks. The 

 ears are small, erect, the legs pretty short but 

 elegantly shaped, the tail curled and adorned 

 with a long terminal tuft. The body is thinly 

 covered with black bristles with yellow points, 

 and these stand up as a mane on the back of 

 the neck. The general colour is dark gray 

 since the surface of the skin is black. 



The dentition shows in the upper jaw six 

 sharp incisors, close set in a long curved line 

 on the edge of the very narrow premaxilla, 

 two massive canines grooved on the outside 

 and directed outwards and upwards, and 

 seven close-set cheek-teeth. The first pre- 

 molar is very small and laterally compressed; 

 the three next in order gradually increase in 

 size till we come to the true molars, the last 

 of which is as long as the two immediately in 

 front taken together. The crowns of the 

 cheek-teeth consist of tubercles with numerous 

 folds and furrows, and those of the lower jaw 

 also are similar in structure. In this jaw, 

 however, the six sharp incisors are placed 

 horizontally and directed forwards, while the 

 strong and long canines, which are triangular 

 in section, are curved like a bow, and exhibit 

 behind a polished surface resulting from 

 friction against the upper canine. The first 

 very small but sharp premolar stands pretty 

 close behind the canine, and is separated by 

 a considerable interval from the other teeth, 

 which form a continuous series. 



Fortunately for agriculture wild-boars are 

 almost entirely extirpated in civilized coun- 

 tries. Among us^ they are still kept in closed 

 parks for the sake of the pleasures of the 

 chase — a chase no longer dangerous. They 

 still live in perfect freedom after the manner 



' That is, in Germany. — Tr. 



of all pigs in a few large forests and in unculti- 

 vated districts. Formerly they were hunted 

 with packs of strong and well-knit dogs, 

 against which they show an instinctive hatred. 

 When after a bloody battle, in which several 

 dogs were usually ripped open, the wild- 

 boar was driven into a corner, it received 

 its death-blow from a particular kind of lance 

 or spear (whence this form of sport is known 

 as "pig-sticking"), or from the hunting- knife, 

 which the hunter rested against his knee. 

 The wild-boar would charge the huntsman, 

 who was then placed in great danger if he 

 did not succeed in transfixing the animal 

 with his weapon. At the present day plat- 

 forms are erected on which the hunters can 

 stand in safety while the game is driven past 

 them. Boar- hunting has come to signify 

 shooting for a wager at a rolling disc. The 

 flesh of a wild-boar more than two years old 

 is decidedly bad — tough and hard; that of 

 sucklings and porkers, on the other hand, is 

 excellent, and the head and snout are particu- 

 larly esteemed. 



The domesticated races have arisen from 

 numerous crosses between varieties origin- 

 ally reared in the country to which they be- 

 long. Our wild-boar, and another smaller 

 variety with longer legs, the wild-boar of the 

 lake-dwellings {Sus palustris), the wild-boars 

 of India and the Sunda Islands, perhaps even 

 the river-hogs of Africa have contributed 

 to the production of these races, in which 

 domestication and selection have given rise 

 to remarkable characters — hanging ears, head 

 truncated behind, face marked with folds and 

 furrows, shortened snout, and other characters 

 which are described in detail by Nathusius 

 and Riitimeyer, but which we cannot enter 

 upon here. 



The African Hogs are distinguished by 

 bony excrescences on the sides of the face. 



In the River-hogs (Potamochcerus) these 

 excrescences form two rounded and not very 

 prominent swellings. In the illustration on 

 the opposite page is represented the oldest 



