OMNIVOROUS MAMMALS 



233 



directed, an arrangement enabling them to easily cut through 

 tubers, &c., which may be met with in the course of the rooting 

 process. Next come the four upwardly -directed canines, which 

 work against one another almost like a pair of scissors, 

 and are greatly developed in the male to serve as weapons. 

 The cheek-teeth are twenty- eight in number, and of these 

 sixteen are laterally-compressed premolars with cutting crowns, 

 while the remainder are molars with large grinding crowns, 

 from which blunt tubercles project. The dentition suggests a 

 mixed diet, for the canines and premolars are modified in the 



"1 



Fig. 455. — Collared Peccary {Dicotyles torqitatiis 1 



carnivorous direction, the molars, on the other hand, being well- 

 adapted for dealing with vegetable food. The latter tendency 

 is the stronger, and this quite accords with the nature of the 

 aliment, which mainly consists of plants, especially their succu- 

 lent underground parts, while such fruits as acorns and beech-mast 

 are eagerly sought after. Grubs and other small invertebrates also 

 form part of the food; larger creatures, such as rats and mice, 

 are often devoured, and carrion is not despised. It has already 

 been pointed out that mammals which feed mainly or entirely 

 upon vegetable matter have a much-elongated gut, often associ- 

 ated with a complex stomach and a large caecum. Pigs exemplify 

 the first of those characters, and also have a moderately-large 



