18 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE SUID^. [Jan. 9, 



3. That the domestic, and possibly the wild species have a great 

 facility in breeding together, having fertile oflFspring. 



There are very few countries that have, or are presumed to have, 

 a native race of Pigs, where some of the kinds are not kept in a more 

 or less domestic state. This is even the case where the animal is 

 regarded with disgust and never eaten as food, except by the lowest 

 class of the inhabitants, as in India. 



" Wild Hogs abound in Dukhun, and the male attains to a very 

 great size. I am not satisfied that there is any specific difference 

 between the European and Asiatic Wild Hogs. Every village abounds 

 in hogs. The Village Hog is of the same colour as the wild animal, 

 mostly a rusty black, and the only variations are slate-black or slate- 

 brown ; but (t is not above two-thirds of the size of the latter. Tail 

 never curled or spirally twisted. They dispute with the Pariah dogs 

 the possession of the offal matter thrown out of the houses, and are 

 the public scavengers." — Sykes, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 11. 



"The Indian Wild Hog differs considerably from the German; 

 the head of the former is longer and more pointed, and the plane of 

 the forehead straight, while it is concave in the European ; the ears 

 of the former are small and pointed, in the latter larger and not so 

 erect. The Indian is altogether a more active-looking animal. The 

 German has a stronger and heavier appearance. The same differ- 

 ences are perceptible in the domesticated individuals of the two 

 countries." — Sykes, I. c. p. 30. 



In some of the islands of the Pacific the woods are stocked with 

 wild swine that are the produce of the litter of one breeding sow 

 that has been introduced. 



As an instance of the facility and rapidity with which the Pig may be 

 completely naturahzed and become a pest, one may mention New Zea- 

 land, where some of the pigs introduced by the colonists have escaped 

 and their offspring have spread themselves over the country, and are 

 now a pest to the colonial farmer and breeder of sheep, destroying 

 the crops of the former, and following the ewes and eating the lambs 

 as they are dropped on the sheep-walk. A reward of so much per 

 head is paid for all the pigs that are destroyed in several parts of 

 that colony. 



I have attempted to arrange the genera of Siiidee in natural groups. 

 All the genera are well defined, and, I believe, distinct. The only doubt- 

 ful one is my genus Centuriosus, which was established on an animal 

 which is as yet only known in a domesticated state, and one that 

 l)reeds with facility with the Domestic Pig of Europe, and the mules 

 are fertile. 



The species of Pigs have been very much misunderstood. Pigs 

 belonging to very distinct genera have been considered varieties 

 of the same species, or only domestic varieties of the Common Hog. 

 The genera and species have been gradually unravelled. 



As an example, I may here observe that Desmarest regards Sus 

 porcus{Potatnochoeruspoi-cvs)as only a domestic variety of Sms scrofa. 



Fischer considers Hus koiropotamus {Pofamockoerus larvatus) a 

 synonym of Sns larvatus, the type of the genus Phacochoenis. 



