THE COLLARED PECCARY. 
Dicotyles torquatus. 
Plate XXIII. 
No true Pigs are found wild in the New World, but their place is taken by Peccaries, which are different in 
structure, although equally belonging to the family of Swine or Suidce. They are remarkable for the 
possession of a gland situated above the posterior vertebra, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable 
odour. To render their flesh palateable as an article of food, it is said to be requisite to remove this gland 
directly after death. 
Two species of Peccary only are at present known to exist, the present or Collared Peccary, and the 
rather larger White-lipped Peccary. Specimens of both these animals are usually exhibited in the Society’s 
Menagerie. The Collared Peccary has a wide distribution in the New World. It occurs all through Central 
America and .Mexico, in suitable localities, ranging as far north as the Red River of Arkansas, in Lat. 44° N. 
In South America it was found in Guiana by Schomburgk, and in the Eastern Wood-region of Peru by 
Tschudi. It is likewise met with in Brazil and Paraguay, and has been recorded by D’Orbigny as having- 
been seen as far south as the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, 
The Collared Peccary breeds readily in captivity. Mr. Wolf’s plate represents a female of this species, 
in company with her young ones, which appear never to exceed two in number. 
