1897.1 



ON THE SPECIES OF POTAMOCHCEEUS. 



359 



5. On the Species of Potamochoerus, the Bush- Pigs of the 

 Ethiopian Region. By Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major^ 

 C.M.Z.S. 



(Plates XXV. & XXVI.) 



[Eeeeived March 16, 1897.] 



A close examination of eight specimens of the Wild Hog of 

 Madagascar, forming part of my collection from that island, has 

 led me to attempt a review of the complete material available of 

 the genus PotamocJioerus, the results of which I lay before the 

 Society in a very succinct form. I also exhibit two skulls, male 

 and female, of the Madagascar form, and two photographs of the 

 northernmost form, the Abyssinian P. hassama (Heugl.). 



It may be well at the outset to state the relation which the 

 African Potamochoerus bears to the other Swine. Leaving out of 

 consideration the more aberrant or otherwise further removed 

 African Phacochoerus, the Oriental Bahyrusa, and the New- World 

 Peccaries (Dicotyles), I limit my remarks mainly to the members of 

 the genus Sus, with which Poiomochoents bears closer relationship 

 than with the genera just mentioned. 



Several years ago ^ I tried to show that the numerous species of 

 Siis which had been established could be reduced to four : Sus 

 scrofa ; Sus vittatus ; Sus verrucosus, of Java, Borneo, Celebes, &c. ; 

 and Sus harbatus, of Borneo. In later years numerous excellent 

 papers have been published on the subject by Nehring ; besides 

 which not less than 35, partly for the present more or less 

 nominal species, have been introduced by Pere Heude^ from the 



' Zool. Anzeiger, 1883, p. 29.5. 



^ P.-M. Heude, S.J. " Etude sur les Suilliens," M^moires concernant 

 I'Hist. Nat. de I'Empire Chinois par des Peres de la Compamie de J^sus. 

 Chang-Hai, 1888-1894. 



