ARTIODACTYLES 95 



■" lard " layer of our domestic pig), which acts as a bad conductor of heat. 

 Fat being, moreover, of less specific weight than water, this layer also 

 materially assists the animal in swimming (compare seal). 



(b) The bristles dry quickly, so that little heat is lost. 



3. The skin in colour resembles the swamp which the animal in- 

 habits. When reposing in the hole which it digs out for itself, it is very 

 apt to be overlooked by a sportsman. In the young, which are numerous, 

 the skin is marked with lighter or darker stripes. Eesidence in swamps, 

 which beasts of prey do not venture to traverse, in itself forms a 

 protection for this animal. 



C. The Wild Boar is an Omnivorous Feeder. 



Its food consists of anything that is eatable — fungi, acorns, nuts, 

 beech-nuts, wild fruits, also all kinds of insects and their larvae, snails, 

 worms, mice, and even carrion. In winter it has, as a rule, to put 

 up with roots. Setting out for the fields at night, it digs up potatoes 

 and turnips, and consumes cereals and anything else it can find. What 

 it eats, however, amounts to much less than what it digs up and tramples 

 under foot. Thus, the boar is both an animal and vegetable feeder, or 

 omnivorous. Accordingly, we find that — 



1. The crowns of the four anterior molars are sharp as in carnivores 

 (see cat), and, on the other hand, the three hinder are broad with 

 tubercles almost as blunt as in herbivorous animals (see ox). In fact, so 

 far as its molars are concerned, the pig occupies an intermediate position 

 between these two groups. 



2. The incisors (six above and below) are large, and hence adapted 

 for biting off small pieces from a large object (e.g., a turnip). Inasmuch 

 as they point obliquely forwards, the animal is able by their aid to pick 

 up small objects from the ground (e.g., acorns, larvas) or to pull them 

 from out of the soil. 



3. The boar leaves its thicket in search of food only under the cover 

 of night. Hence its sense of hearing is very sharply developed. The 

 sight, however, is weak, as is sufficiently indicated by the eyes, which 

 are not bright as in most animals. Its keen sense of smell and the great 

 sensitiveness of the snout enable it to detect anything eatable to be found 

 in the ground. (The domestic pig has been trained for finding truffles.) 



D. The Wild Boar as a Burrowing Animal. 



Let us now see how the animal is able to break roots, dig up bulbs, 

 get at underground larvae, etc. 



1. The head has the shape of a long, pointed wedge, owing chiefly 

 to prolongation of — 



2. The nose into a snout, or proboscis, which is supported by the long 



