Fish River Bush, South Africa. 203 



lopes, on what grounds is it dispensed with in the bushbuck 

 and koodoo, which inhabit this bush-belt also l It cannot be 

 for any object connected with the lubrication of the eyeball, 

 as it is placed underneath it, so that its anatomy throws no 

 light apparently on its function. 



The Wild Pig of the Fish River Bush (Phasco cheer us) is 

 seen in two varieties, the larger of a dirty white colour en- 

 tirely, and possessing three excessively-developed cartila- 

 ginous tubercles on the face on each side, two nasal, in ap- 

 pearance like horns, two orbital, and two buccal, which pro- 

 bably serve as fenders from injury to the eyes, in its progress 

 through the thorny dense underwood. These prominences 

 do not exist in the sow, which has a smaller head, but is 

 otherwise similar to the boar. This variety goes by the ap- 

 pelation of tuitkop amongst the Dutch farmers. The smaller 

 variety called rocaitkop, is of a dirty reddish-brown colour 

 on the body and limbs, but the hair of the head becomes 

 gray in the older individuals. The young of this kind 

 have a general brown colour, with two or three longitudinal 

 reddish stripes on each side extending from the head to the 

 tail. The nasal tuberculations seem only here to attain any 

 size in the male, and are entirely, as in the other variety, de- 

 ficient in the sow, which is also somewhat smaller than the 

 male, but otherwise similar in appearance. The ears in both 

 are erect. The distribution of the teeth in both varieties is 

 as follow : incisors §-, can ines - — \, molars ^ = 30. The upper 

 canines rest on their sides, and, directed outwards, seem mere- 

 ly for the purpose of keeping the two edges of their opposites 

 in the lower jaw sharp by their grinding action, as their fibres 

 will act perpendicularly against those of the lower tusks lon- 

 gitudinally. These animals afford excellent sport during the 

 day, when the boer hunts them with a pack containing a few 

 strong plucky dogs which have been accustomed to the sport. 

 They frequent the dense bush and thickets, seldom the River 

 Bush, and during the day may be turned out of these re- 

 treats, where they repose, by dogs knowing their scent. They 

 then immediately make off, and in difficult thick country give 

 a long chase to the pack, but in more open country are soon 

 run into, as they cannot keep up any lengthened speed, though 



