OlIAP. XVII. 
MEANS OF DEFENCE. 
265 
if the head were held a little laterally, serve as an 
excellent guard ; and hence, perhaps it is that in 
old animals they are generally broken off, as if by 
fighting.”^® Here, then, we have the curious case of 
the upper tusks of the Babirusa regularly assuming 
during the prime of life, a structure which apparently 
renders them fitted only for defence ; whilst in the Euro- 
pean boar the lower and opposite tusks assume in a less 
degree and only during old age nearly the same form, 
^and then serve in like manner solely for defence. 
iFig. 65. Head of ^Ethiopian Wart-hog, from ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.’ 1869. (I now find that 
this drawing represents the head of a female, but it serves to shew, on a reduced 
scale, the characters of the male.) 
In the wart-hog {PJiacochoerus sethiopicus, fig. 65) 
the tusks in the upper jaw of the male curve upwards 
during the prime of life, and from being pointed, 
serve as formidable weapons. The tusks in the lower 
jaw are sharper than those in the upper, but from their 
shortness it seems hardly possible that they can be used 
as weapons of attack. They must, however, greatly 
See Mr. Wallace’s interesting account of this animal, ‘ The Malay 
Archipelago,’ 1869, vol. i. p. 435. 
