nOn DR. C. I. FORSYTH MA.IOR ON THE [Mar. 16, 



Asiatic Continent (especially China) and from the Philippines, 

 These additions to our knowledge have rather strengthened my 

 original views, to the effect that we shall in a near futui-e be able 

 to show the complete passage of Sus scrofa into Sus vittattis by 

 intermediate forms, although one or two of Heude's continental 

 species may for the pi-esent rank as such. 



The only characters of some importance, upon which the claims 

 of Potamoclicerus to generic distinction rest are the curious 

 apopliyses which Flacourt, speaking of the Malagasy Boar, com- 

 pared "with horns \ Eecent authors call these outgi'owths fleshy 

 warts ; but having had the opportunity of seeing the animal in the 

 flesh — I am speaking of old males — I must say that Tlacourt's term 

 is much more to the point. They recall the osseous horu-Hke 

 apophvses in some Tertiary Ungulates, as the Binocemta and others. 

 Of course, in the male of Potamochrerus the underlying osseous 

 nuclei are formed merely by the convex rugosity on the lateral 

 parts of the nasals and by the outgrowth above the cauine, reaching 

 scarcely higher up than the upper contour of the skull. But the 

 overlving " horn " is formed by a very resistant, cylindrical, carti- 

 laginous callosity, part of which is generally cut away on the inner 

 side, whilst the rest shrinks considerably in drying, so that the 

 stuffed skin fails to give an adequate idea of this conformation in 

 the living animal. 



Whether this is the beginning of a really osseous horn, or the 

 remnant of such, I cannot say ; considering that we have to do with 

 a specialized feature, one might prefer the former supposition. 

 There are some tertiary 8wine which by their dentition closely 

 approach the Potamoclicerus, but this part of their skull is still 

 unknown. 



Xow this peculiar character exists, as I pointed out, only in the 

 adult male, and it might therefore be doubted whether a sexual 

 character justifies the establishing of a separate genus. Besides, 

 the Sus verrucosus of Java, with its numerous varieties in Borneo, 

 Celebes, the Philippines, Amboina, Ceram, and even, as it would 

 seem, in Cochinchina % shows the beginning of a similar conform- 

 ation in the large size of the apophysis above the canine, which is 

 particularly well developed in the Celebes and Amboina form, where 

 we have the beginning also of a rugosity on the nasals. Sus verrucosus 

 approaches Potamochwrns besides as regards the broad zygomatic 

 arches, which are swollen by underlying sinuses. The claims of 

 Potamoclicerus to generic distinction are hereby somewhat weakened. 

 On the other hand, Sus verrucosus and Sus harhatus of Borneo are 

 distinguished from the remaining members of the genus Sus by the 

 very characteristic conformation of their lower canines ; the same 

 character is met with ah-eady in Pliocene Boars of the Siwaliks and 

 in the Sus of the Upper Pliocene of the Yal d'Arno. So that if the 



1 " Ces sangliers (principalement les uiasles) out deux comes a costez du nez, 

 qui sont comiue deux callositez." (Histoire de la graude Isle Madagascar 

 composee par le Sieur De Flacourt : Paris, 1661.) 



■' Heude, /. c. 1894, p. 219. 



