72 



THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



upper canines have their roots set in sockets 

 which open upwards, and appear as it were 

 glued to the sides of the jaw. They pierce 

 the skin, and in the course of growth get so 

 bent round that the compressed points come 

 to lie on the middle line of the forehead. In 

 profile these teeth have almost the form of 

 a chamois horn. The lower tusks are less 

 curved, more slender, pointed like triangular 

 daggers, and di- 

 rected outwards. 

 They are not 

 closely applied 

 to those of the 

 upper jaw, but 

 are placed fur- 

 ther forwards, 

 and form dan- 

 gerous weapons. 

 There are in all 

 only four incisors 

 in the upper jaw, 

 six in the lower. 

 Each half of each 

 jaw has two pre- 

 molars and three molars, the last of which 

 is the largest. In the arrangement of the 

 tubercles of these teeth, which are somewhat 

 like those of tapirs, there is a remarkable 

 tendency to the zygodont form. 



The mode of life of the babirussa is like 

 that of the other members of the family. 

 It runs and swims very well, and defends 

 itself with courage when driven into a corner. 

 Specimens have often been brought to 

 Europe, but like other inhabitants of moist 

 tropical climes they have not survived long. 

 A suckling born in a zoological garden was 

 not striped. 



Lastly, among the types belonging to the 

 Old World we must mention the Pigmy Hogs 

 (Porcula), discovered by Hodgson in the 

 Himalayas. They are, in fact, the dwarfs of 

 the group, attaining the length of scarcely 

 two feet. The tail is only a stump. The 

 incisors of these animals remain undeveloped. 



Fig- 156. — The Collared Peccary [Dicotyles torquatus). 



The fourth digit on all the feet remains much 

 smaller than in all other Suida. Nothing is 

 known of the mode of life of these animals, 

 which obviously approach the ruminants in 

 the characters mentioned. 



The American Peccaries (Dicotyles) like- 

 wise form a separate group approaching the 

 ruminants in the division of the stomach into 

 three parts and the loss of the outermost 



digit of the hind- 

 feet. They have 

 only two incisors 

 in each half of 

 the premaxilla, 

 and often lose 

 the outer pair. 

 The canines are 

 short, but very 

 strong and sharp- 

 edged; they do 

 not project be- 

 yond the lips. 

 The upper ones 

 are not directed 

 upwards, but, as 

 Moreover the 



in the ruminants, downwards 

 peccaries do not butt, but bite. 



They are pretty little animals, for the 

 smaller species, the Collared Peccary [D. 

 torquatus), fig. 156, which inhabits the main- 

 land of America as far north as Mexico, is 

 only about three feet in length; while the 

 larger species, the White-lipped Peccary 

 (D. labiatus), grows to a length of little more 

 than three feet and a half. The body is 

 short and thickset, the neck very thick, the 

 head thick behind, becoming finely pointed 

 towards the snout, the tail rudimentary, the 

 legs slim. The general colour is dark-gray; 

 the stiff and not very thickly planted bristles 

 are longer on the neck and along the middle 

 line of the back. The northern species is 

 marked with a yellowish stripe on the 

 shoulders, forming a sort of collar. They 

 have at most three pairs of teats. 



All peccaries have on the back a pretty 



