WILD AND DOMESTICATED RACES. 147 



direct action of man during the life of the animal; and 

 finally the texture and condition of the bones. 



Applying these considerations to the Sus palustris from 

 Moosseedorf, it is evident, says Prof. Riitimeyer, firstly, that 

 the argument derivable from the number of young specimens 

 loses much of its force on account of the great fertility of the 

 sow, and the ease with which the young can be found and 

 destroyed ; secondly, in the number of individuals repre- 

 sented, it is equalled by the stag, which certainly was never 

 domesticated ; thirdly, some bones of very old individuals 

 have been found, and some of very young, even of unborn 

 pigs ; the smallness of the tusks is, according to Prof. Riiti- 

 meyer, a characteristic of the race and not an evidence of 

 domestication ; the bones are of a firm and close texture, and 

 the only cases of decay have arisen from an extreme degrada- 

 tion of the teeth, which would certainly be unlikely to occur 

 in a domestic animal. Finally, none of the teeth show 

 traces of any filing or other preparation, except such as may 

 have taken place after the death of the animal ; from all which 

 reasons Prof. Riitimeyer infers that the inhabitants of Moos- 

 seedorf had not yet succeeded in taming either the Sus scrofa 

 palustris or the Sus scrofa ferus. 



Prof. Riitimeyer has paid great attention to the texture and 

 condition of the bones themselves, and believes that he can 

 in many cases from these alone distinguish the species, and 

 even determine whether the bone belonged to a wild or a 

 domesticated animal. 



In wild animals the bones are of a firmer and closer tex- 

 ture; there is an indescribable, but to the accustomed eye 

 very characteristic, sculpturing of the external surface, pro- 

 duced by the sharper and more numerous impressions of 

 vessels, and the greater roughness of the surfaces for the 

 attachment of muscles. There is also an exaggeration of all 

 projections and ridges, and a diminution of all indifferent 



