Chap. III. 



THEIR VARIATION. 



75 



Some semi-monstrous breeds deserve notice. From the time 

 of Aristotle to the present time solid-hoofed swine have occa- 

 sionally been observed in various parts of the world. Although 

 this peculiarity is strongly inherited, it is hardly probable 

 that all the animals with solid hoofs have descended from 

 the same parents; it is more probable that the same peculiarity 

 has reappeared at various times and places. Dr. Struthers has 

 lately described and figured 24 the structure of the feet; in both 

 front and hind feet . the distal phalanges of the two greater toes 

 are represented by a single, great, hoof-bearing phalanx ; and 

 in the front feet, the middle phalanges are represented by a 

 bone which is single towards the lower end, but bears two 

 separate articulations towards the upper end. From other 

 accounts it appears that an intermediate toe is likewise some- 

 times superadded. 



Another curious anomaly is offered by the appendages, 

 described by M. Eudes-Deslongchamps as often characterizing 

 the Normandy pigs. These appendages are always attached to 

 the same spot, to the corners of the jaw ; they are cylindrical, 

 about three inches in length, covered with bristles, and with a 

 pencil of bristles rising out of a sinus on one side : they have a 

 cartilaginous centre, with two small longitudinal muscles : they 

 occur either symmetrically on both sides of the face or on one 



Fig. 4.— Old Irish Fig, with jaw-appendages. (Copied from H. D. Richardson on Pigs.) 



24 < Edinburgh New Pbilosoph. Blainville's < Osteographie,' p. 128, for 

 Journal,' April, 1863. See also De various authorities on this subject. 



