ORDER PACHYDERMATA. 401 



superiority is not in any case sufficient in degree to get the 

 better of physical force ; while in man, whose bodily powers, 

 however modified and adapted to his station, are weak, in- 

 tellect bids defiance to strength, and triumphs over all 

 physical opposition. 



The Hippopotamus, however related to the omnivorous 

 swine, appears to live solely on the vegetable kingdom. It 

 might be suspected, from its watery habitat, that it was 

 partially piscivorous ; but this is not the fact, and if it be 

 driven to the river at all in search of food, it appears to be 

 food only of a vegetable description which affects moist 

 situations. In common with the Rhinoceros, the Swine, 

 and even the Elephant, this animal is fond of wallowing in 

 the mud, and may resort to this habit as well for a 

 protection against parasitical insects and flies, as from an 

 instinctive impulse. 



The males are said to fight desperately for the possession 

 of the females: the latter bring but one at a birth, after a 

 gestation, as it is said, of about nine months. The young 

 take to the water almost immediately after birth. On the 

 whole, however, it appears we have yet much to learn on 

 the natural history of this formidable beast. 



The name of Swine, or Sus, has been extended by natur- 

 alists, from the animal commonly so called, to all those 

 which have any generical relations with it. Still these 

 relations are not so close as to prevent the different species 

 from forming very distinct and characteristic groups, 

 whose organic modifications are sufficiently important. 



Independently of the Swine, properly so called, this 

 genus contains the Babyroussa, the Phaco-chceres, and the 

 Pecaries. These last, notwithstanding the arrangement 

 of the Baron, we shall venture, on the authority of his 

 brother, to include among the Swine; for the Pecaries, 

 notwithstanding their peculiar traits, have the constitution 

 and the principal characters of the Hog. 



