IB4/.] On a new form of the Hoy kind or Suida. 425 



observations and references it appears to me that the Pigmy Hog of the 

 Saul forest is almost equally allied to the true Hogs and to the Peccaries, 

 agreeing with the former in the absence of any peculiar external organs, 

 such as the gular flaps of Larvatus and the pelvic sac of Torquatus and 

 Labiatus ; also in the number and form of its incisor teeth, and in 

 having a perfect tail and four overt toes to each foot, but differing from 

 the true Hogs and agreeing with the Peccaries in the number of its 

 molar teeth, in the style of the laniaries, and in the diminished elon- 

 gation of the jaws ; and showing yet further inclination towards the 

 same form (Dicotyles) by the extreme smallness of the tail as well as 

 by the tendency of the fourth toe to disappearance. The presence of a 

 tail and of a fourth toe, with the limited number of molars and the 

 straightness of the unexserted laniaries, are the positive characters of 

 our proposed type ; which, how like soever to the ordinary Hog, differs 

 therefrom materially in structure and not less in manners and habitat ; 

 for, whereas the Hog abounds all over India, the Pigmy Hog is exclu- 

 sively confined to the deep recesses of primeval forest, and hence (I 

 believe) has entirely escaped all notice by Europeans up to the present 

 hour ; and, whereas, again, the grown males of the common Hog inva- 

 riably dwell apart, those of the Pigmy Hog abide constantly with the 

 herd, and are its habitual and resolute defenders against harm. I 

 obtained my single specimen recently in the Tarai of Sikim ; but I 

 know that the species dwells also in the Tarai of Nepaul : nor have I 

 any doubt it inhabits as far north-west and south-east, as the saul 

 forest extends, though such are its rarity and secludedness, that know- 

 ing of its existence and anxious to procure it as I have been for 1 5 

 years past, I have only just succeeded. Even the aborigines whose 

 home is the forest, seldom see and still seldomer obtain it, much as 

 they covet it for its delicious flesh, and eagerly as they search for it on 

 that account ; and an old Mech who brought me mine, informs me that 

 in 50 years' abode in the Sal-bari or Saul forest, though a hunter 

 every season, he never got but 3 or 4 of these much desiderated 

 animals to eat, partly owing to their scarcity and partly to the speed 

 with which the females and young disperse, and to the extraordinary 

 vigour and activity with which the males defend themselves whilst 

 their families are retreating. 



That so tiny an animal should effectually resist men must seem 



3 K 



