402 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



To add anything to the generic description in the text, 

 as far as conformation is concerned, would be equally su- 

 perfluous and tedious. The senses of these animals, that of 

 smell excepted, are obtuse enough. The imperfection of 

 that of feeling is much increased by the thick coat of fat 

 which usually covers the body. 



The Domestic Hog may serve to give a pretty exact idea 

 of the other species of this genus. Their proportions and 

 gait are equally clumsy. Heaviness and length of head, 

 short neck, limbs short and thin in proportion to the body, 

 are their principal external traits. Their usual pace is a 

 trot ; they go with the head downwards, and the eyes 

 directed forward. They delight in humid, marshy, and 

 muddy places, where they dig for roots and worms 



The intelligence of these animals is limited, and they 

 are not in general very susceptible of education. Yet 

 they are easily tamed, and become attached to those who 

 treat them well. They feed almost indiscriminately on 

 animal or vegetable substances ; but it may be considered 

 that roots and grains form their principal nutriment. 

 They are found in very large herds, and usually in unfre- 

 quented places. The voice of all the species resembles 

 more or less that of our Domestic Hog. They are found 

 in all parts of the globe, with the exception of New 

 Holland. 



The Wild Boar. (Sus Scrofa var. aper.) The Wild 

 Boar is of a brownish-black over the whole body. It re- 

 tires into the thickest part of the forest, where it chooses 

 a retreat, from which, when attacked, it never sallies forth 

 but in the last extremity. December or January is thd 

 rutting time of these animals ; gestation continues about 

 one hundred and twenty days or more, and there are six 

 or eight young ones at a birth. These are striped irregu- 

 larly with longitudinal bands of different depths of brown 



