12 



MR. A. DE CARLE SOWERBY OX 



seem to agree with the locality given in the description of 

 the species. 



1. Sus paludosus Heude. 



In comparing the skulls of the first seven species in the above 

 list (i. e. the species inhabiting the Yang-tze Valle}^) one was 

 struck by the fact that they were practically indistinguishable 

 one from the other, except that some were larger than others, 

 slightly heavier, and with more worn teeth. 



I have no hesitation in saying that the differences occurring 

 amongst the skulls of this series were due either to individual 

 variation or age. Thus, the skull labelled S. paludosus from 

 Chinkiang, being the oldest specimen, as evidenced by the wearing 

 of the teeth, was very heavy throughout and proportionately 

 broader than any of the others. The type-specimen of S. chiro- 

 dontus was longer in proportion to its width than any of the 

 others, but not sufficiently so to warrant its separation from them 

 as a distinct species, for in this respect it also differed from 

 the other specimens labelled chirodontus. One of the specimens 

 labelled S. chirodontus from Kiente has S. stricticeps written in 

 ink on the palate, and was (judging from erasures on the label 

 and marks on the skull) also originally the type of S. collinus. 

 >S. acrocranius was originally labelled S.. chirodontus. One of the 

 specimens of S. flavescens from Li-yang was very high in the 

 forehead, giving a strongly concave outline to the cranium. It 

 was originally labelled S. leucorhinus, but the describer evidently 

 changed his mind about it. This all goes to show that Heude 

 himself had considerable doubt about the specific differences of 

 his species. 



Taking the whole of the series from the Yang-tze Valley, I 

 should not hesitate to class them as one species, with the note 

 that the specimens from Kiente district (Poyang Lake District), 

 where the feeding is probably good and plentiful, are somewhat 

 larger than those from further east (i. e. Chinkiang and Ning- 

 koufu districts). 



My own experience in the field while hunting wild pigs goes to 

 show that there is a great deal of individual variation amongst 

 these animals, some being larger and heavier, though younger, 

 than others. Other sportsmen and hunters, natives as well as 

 European, have informed me that their experience is the same 

 as mine. 



As the specimen from Chinkiang was the first to be described, 

 the name paludosus * must stand for the species occurring in the 

 Yang-tze Valley. Chirodontus and other names w 7 ere mentioned 

 earlier in Heude's publications, but without descriptions. That 

 the Yang-tze pig is not Sus leucomystax T. et S., to which species 

 it was originally referred bySwinhoef, is certain from a com- 

 parison of Heude's specimens with a skull of about the same size, 



* Mem. cone. l'Hist. Nat. de l'Emp. Chin, tome iii. p. 193. 

 t P. Z. S. Lond. 1870, pp. 639. 640. 



