14 



MR. A. DE CARLE SOWERBY ON 



It will be noticed, however, that in this comparative breadth of 

 skull the Shansi pig is intermediate between the Shensi and 

 Yang-tze species : for, whereas the skull of the Shansi pig is 

 broader than that of the Yang-tze pig, by nearly a centimetre, it 

 is only half a centimetre shorter, while the skull of the Shensi pig 

 that was broader than that of the Yang-tze pig was some four and 

 a half centimetres shorter. 



For this reason, and also because of its geographical position, 

 it being entirely cut off from the Shensi and Moupin species by 

 the Yellow River, the Shansi pig would appear to be a distinct 

 form. It certainly does not belong to the Manchurian species, 

 which is a very much larger animal with a proportionately much 

 longer and narrower skull. 



3. Sus gigas Heude. 



One was confronted with some difficulties in comparing the 

 pigs from Vladivostok, the Ussuri Yalley, and the Sungari 

 "Valley. The two skulls from Vladivostok were of adult males in 

 good condition, that from the Ussuri Valley being of a younger 

 male with the cranium missing and that from the Sungari Valley 

 being of a young female. 



However, considering that these skulls were all Heude had to 

 go upon in creating his three species, there seems to be no reason 

 why the specimens should not be used legitimately as a basis 

 for a reconsideration of his deductions. Considering the great 

 individual variation that occurs amongst pigs of the same species, 

 Heude was hardly justified in creating these three species, when 

 it is also considered that the regions from which the specimens 

 in question were secured are topographically identical. The 

 Primorsk or Maritime Province in the vicinity of Vladivostok, 

 the Ussuri Valley, and the source and upper, as well as the lower, 

 reaches of the Sungari, form one more or less continuous forest 

 spreading over low hills and marshy valleys. 



Compared with the Yang-tze skulls, the Vladivostok skulls 

 were distinguishable at once by their enormous size and propor- 

 tionate narrowness. What there is of the Ussuri skull also shows 

 this very plainly, while the narrowness of the Sungari skull 

 (imm. 2 ) when compared with a small female skull of the 

 Yang-tze species is noticeable. 



I could not discover specimens of S. caoiescens or S. mandchuricus 

 in the collection, but, as Heude says that specimens were bought 

 in the Peking market, having come from Mukden, they must 

 originally have been secured in the Manchurian forests, either in 

 the vicinity of Harbin or well to the east of Mukden itself. In 

 any case they would be inhabitants of the same topographical and 

 faunal area as the other three species. I have no doubt that 

 there is in this area but the one species of pig which must bear 

 the name Sus gigas*, as it was the earliest given. This is a good 



* Mem. cone. i'HisL Nat, l'Emp. Chin, tome iii. p. 189. 



