CHAPTEE XIX. 



THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



THE PIG TRIBE. 



I!Y H. A. liKYDEN. 



M 



ANY species and varieties of swine are found in different parts of the world, most of 



them exhibiting strong traces of a general family resemblance, although widely 



sundered as to habitats and often markedly differing in outward ap)pearance. All are 



omnivorous ; all have the stomach simi)ler in type than in the Euminants ; and all have front 



or incisor teeth in the upper jaw. Tiie two great families of swine proper are the Pigs and 



Peccaries. 



There has been much discussion among scientists as to the early origin of the various 

 breeds of domestic swine found in different parts of the world. There can be little doubt 

 that, although selective breeding has produced extraordinary differences in outward appearance, 

 even among the domestic pigs of our own islands, the origin of the numerous tame races is 

 to be sought in the ancestry of the wild breeds of the countries in which they are found. 

 Darwin has some very apposite remarks on the differences to be observed in domesticated 

 swine. " The peculiar form of the skull and body in the most highly cultivated races is," 

 he observes, "not characteristic of any one race, but is common to all when improved up to 



,^|f.i5'H 







v"''* 



A D0JIE.STICATJ5D SOW AND HER PROGENY. 

 The abaeiics of stripes and spots on the young is a feature in which they diiTer from those of nearly all wild s 



310 



-AM 



