42 
GUIDE TO TIIE 
South American hogs, or Peccaries, which differ from 
the hogs of the Old World, in having their hind feet 
with only three toes seen externally, and besides, the 
middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones unite to form a 
cannon-bone like that of oxen and deer. The other 
peculiarity is that the canines do not appear externally as 
in the true pigs ; there is no tail ; and there is a peculiar 
gland on the back that exudes an offensive odour. 
The Peccaries are gregarious in their habits, and, 
like the Indian pig, their food consists chiefly of roots, 
bulbs, &c. They constitute the genus Dicotyfes, and 
two species are known, viz., the larger Peccary, D. labiatus , ’ 
and the smaller species, D. torquatus. 
Pigs manifest considerable intelligence, much more 
than the horse or ox, and as is well known, some have be¬ 
come such proficients in tricks that have been taught them, 
as to merit the term “ learned.” Romanes, in his interest¬ 
ing book on ‘‘Animal Intelligence” mentions “that 
they manifest the same kind of sagacious co-operation in 
facing an enemy as that manifested by the bison and 
buffalo, but in a more organised manner,” and he gives 
the following quotation from “ Thompson’s Passions of 
Animals — 
“ Wild swine associate in herds and defend themselves 
in common. Green relates that in the wilds of Vermont 
a person fell in with a large herd in a state of extra¬ 
ordinary restlessness ; they had formed a circle with their 
heads outwards, and the young ones placed in the 
middle. A wolf was using every artifice to snap one, and 
on his return he found the herd scattered, but the wolf was 
dead and completely ripped up. Schmarda recounts 
an almost similar encounter between a herd of tame 
