SuiD.Tc. MAMMALIA. Suid.e. 1 89 
are greatly attracted thereto by any attempt wliich is 
made to escape from them. Such as trust to their 
speed are for the most part soon overtaken, and receive 
a cut of the tusk in each thigh, the boar putting his 
nose between their knees, and giving them a violent 
toss ! ” For the greater part of the year the boar is 
found alone, but during the spring hunters often 
come upon a pair and their litter. At such times the 
sow offers no inconsiderable resistance, and frecpiently 
punishes her enemies with a remarkably severe bite. 
One which attacked Captain Williamson seized him 
by the foot, which, on being suddenly withdrawn by 
the hunter, left part of the boot in her mouth ! During 
the season of love, the boars display towards each 
other the most ungovernable animosity. The period 
of gestation extends over a space of one hundred and 
twenty days, the domestic sow producing from ten 
to fourteen pigs at a single litter. The voracity and 
destructive habits of the hog are too well knowm to 
require description. According to Vander Hoeven, 
single-hoofed varieties exist in the neighbourhood of 
Upsal, and also, it is stated, in some parts of Hungary. 
Into the merits of pork we do not enter ; nevertheless 
it is fortunate that multitudes of people enjoy a food 
which is so easily accessible. As to its ancient pro- 
hibition in the East, one might almost be inclined to 
believe that it was originally forbidden on account of 
the pig’s liability to be infested w'ith young cystic larvae 
or scolices of the common tape worm found in man ; 
and yet it is perhaps necessary that the Tamia solium 
should dw'ell in its human host; and therefore meazled 
pork is occasionally eaten ! We cannot here further 
discuss this curious question. 
THE MASKED BOAR {Sus larvatus), or Boscii-vark 
is an inhabitant of the plains and forests of South- 
eastern Africa, the Cape, and the island of Madagascar. 
It is a large animal, between five and six feet long, and 
standing about two feet four inches in height at the 
shoulder, presenting a truly formidable appearance. 
Its hideousness is much increased by the presence of 
two nipple-like warty excrescences on either side of the 
muzzle near the tusks ; these are supported on bony 
protuberances. The canines are large ; the superior 
pair projecting horizontall}^ The hide exhibits a dirty 
browm colour, and is furnislied with bristles wdiich 
have a more marked development on the neck and 
back. The tail is about a foot long and tufted at the 
extremity. 
THE PAPUAN BOAR [Sus Papuensis), or Bene, is a 
smaller species, scarcely exceeding half the length of 
the preceding, and of a much more slender build. It 
is tolerably abundant in the forests of New Guinea. 
The superior canines are comparatively feeble, resem- 
bling the incisors. The hide is clothed with short, 
stoutish bristles, which are ringed with black and 
white, the skin of the young pig is brown, the back 
being marked by five yellowish bands. In the young 
state these animals are captured and reared by the 
natives for food ; the pork being highly esteemed, not 
only by themselves, but by European colonists also. 
THE BABYROUSSA {Bahirussa alfurus) is an in- 
habitant of Celebes, Bourou, and other easterly islands 
of the Indian Archipelago. By the natives it is 
absurdly called the stag-hog, from its standing rather 
high upon its legs; and the erroneous figure given by Biso 
in his edition of the “ Natural History of East India,” 
Fig. 73. 
The Babyroussa (Babinissa alfurus;. 
by Bontius, is calculated to give force to this palpable 
misnomer. The jaw's are furnished with thirtj'-twm 
teeth ; that is, eight incisors, four canines, and tw-enty 
molars. The canines of the upper jaw are enormously 
enlarged in the male ; and, ascending from their sockets. 
which are also directed upw'ards, they arch over the 
face, their crowms being directed backw’ards and dowm- 
wards. The corresponding tusks of the lower jaw^ are 
also very conspicuously developed (fig. 73). The canines 
are not enlarged in the female, and she exhibits a more 
