320 A WILD-HOG HUNT IN TEXAS. 



flesh or their skins, not for the mere sport either, but on 

 account of their destructive habits. In the neighborhood 

 of settlements they make frequent forays into the maize 

 and mamoa fields, and they will lay waste a plantation of 

 sugar-cane in a single night. For this reason it is that 

 'war of extermination has long been waged against them 

 by the planters and their dependants. 



As I have stated, it is believed that the white-lipped 

 species is not found in North America. I think it pro- 

 bable that it does exist in the forests of South Mexico. 

 The natural history of these countries is as yet to be 

 thoroughly investigated. The Mexicans have unfortu- 

 nately employed all their time in making revolutions. 

 But a new period has arrived. The Panama railroad, the 

 Nicaragua canal, and the route of Tehuantepec, will soon 

 be open, when among the foremost who traverse these 

 hitherto unfrequented regions, will be found troops of 

 naturalists, of the Audubon school, who will explore every 

 nook and corner of Central America. Indeed already 

 some progress has been made in this respect. 



The two species of peccaries, although so much alike, 

 never associate together, and do not seem to havaany 

 knowledge of a relationship existing between them. In- 

 deed, what is very singular, they are never found in the 

 same woods. A district frequented by the one, is always 

 without the other. 



