1864. | LETTERS FROM MR. R. SWINHOE. 383 
relying on the reports of the natives as to its carrying its stripes at 
a mature age, I was led to suppose the animal a second species of 
Hodgson’s genus Porcula. I have, however, lately had four live 
wild Pigs brought to me, which, judging from their appearance, I 
should take to be from five to six months old; and in this estimate I 
am borne out by the fact that it is durmg March and the commence- 
ment of April that sucklings are brought to us by the country-people. 
Two of the four pigs sulked and died; a third battered himself to 
death; and the fourth was very unmanageable, and eventually showed 
an inclination to droop, so that I was obliged to have him killed. In 
their grunts, squeaks, and other noises emitted, they were entirely 
porcine. The largest is about 23 feet from snout to rump, and about 
13 foot high at the shoulder; tail 2? inches long, with a further 
#inch length of hair at tip. The undeveloped state of their teeth and 
skulls generally proclaim their juvenility, so that the mature animal 
would be probably twice as large at least. The distinct bands have 
disappeared, and their incisors project in the usual manner of typical 
pigs. They are therefore wrongly referred to Porcula, but more 
properly belong to true Sus. I have three skins and three skulls, 
The general colour of the upper parts is yellowish brown, thickly 
mixed with black hairs, which give the fur a mottled appearance. 
A patch just before the shoulder, and another on the forehead before 
the eyes, are paler and more free from black hairs. The black hairs 
are longest on the back of the neck and on the rump. The under 
parts and tail are white, more or less mixed with black hairs. The 
chin is dark fuscous. A triangular line of white runs away from the 
angle of the mouth, bounded on each side by a line of black hairs. 
This last character calls to my mind the peculiar characteristic of the 
Japanese Wild Pig (Sus leucomystax) ; and indeed they may be of 
that species, which is probably also the Wild Pig of South China, if it 
be true that the Domestic Chinese Hog is descended from that wild 
stock. The appearance of these animals would doubtless have altered 
with advancing age; but they may be sufficiently stamped to indi- 
cate the species. I have no copy of the ‘ Fauna Japonica’ with me 
to refer to. Iam sending the specimens home, and will leave you 
to settle the question of their identity or otherwise with the Wild Ja- 
panese Pig. I may eventually succeed in getting a full-grown ani- 
mal, and may perhaps manage to get live specimens home for the 
Gardens. I have no pigs’ skulls to compare with those of our species. 
There is, however, a drawing of those of Sus scrofa ferus and Sus 
pliciceps illustrating a paper by you in the ‘ Proceedings.’ The 
skull of Sus ¢aivanus is at once distinguishable from either of these 
by its well-rounded forehead, and by the sides of the parietal and 
temporal bones being well convex instead of concave. But it is not, 
of course, with Sus scrofa that this has to be compared, as, from the 
external appearance of the skins, there is not the least chance of our 
pig being referable to that species.” 
The following papers were read :— 
