HIPPOPOTAMUSES. 



63 



bearing shorty rounded hoofs, and all touching the ground. The 

 large incisor and canine teeth grow continuously ; the upper 

 incisors curving outwards, and the lower projecting forwards, while 

 the canines are very large, and those of the upper jaw directed 

 downwards. In the common species, H. amphibius (1340), which 

 till recently ranged over the greater part of Africa, there are two 

 pairs of incisors in each jaw ; but in the much smaller H. liberiensis 

 (1341), of the West Coast, there is geuerally only one lower pair, 

 although some specimens (like the one exhibited) have two teeth 

 on one side and one on the other. In certain extinct species (as 

 shown in a lower jaw exhibited) there were, however, three pairs 

 of equal-sized incisors in each jaw. 



Although Hippopotamuses are now restricted to Africa, the 

 common species ranged during the Pleistocene period as far north 

 as England, and a smaller kind existed in Madagascar. In the 

 antecedent Pliocene epoch several kinds flourished in India and 

 Burma, where they survived till the Pleistocene. The common 

 species — of which the numbers and range are now greatly reduced 

 — lives in herds of from twenty to forty in the neighbourhood of 

 rivers, where it finds its food, which consists of grass and aquatic 

 plants. It feeds chiefly by night ; and in districts where it is much 

 hunted, spends most of the day in the water. There it is 

 thoroughly at home, not only diving and swimming with facility, 

 but walking easily on the river-bed. The Liberian species is stated 

 to be much less aquatic, and more like a Pig in its habits. The 

 splendid mounted specimen of the ordinary Hippopotamus was 

 presented by Mr. Rowland Ward, of Piccadilly. 



The Peccaries ^ ne P eccar i es {Dicotyles or Tayassu) of America [Case 65.] 

 differ from the Old World Pigs (Suidte) in that 

 * * " the upper canine teeth are directed downwards 

 and have sharp cutting-edges, in the reduction of the number of 

 hind-toes to three, and in the complex structure of the stomach. 

 Moreover, the upper ends of the metacarpal and metatarsal bones 

 of the feet are respectively united. The total number of teeth is 

 thirty-eight, there being only two pairs of upper incisors^ and 

 three pairs of premolars in each jaw. 



Peccaries are inhabitants of forest districts, and produce only 

 two young at a birth, which are not spotted or striped with white. 



