D246 NEW ZEALAND NATURE-STUDY BOOK 
Children in country districts know enough of their habits and 
build to appreciate and enjoy further enquiry. 
An account of inherited characteristics should be reserved for 
the more advanced stage of the course. It is not intended that 
pupils should be informed of these, but that they be gradually 
led to recognise in them an explanation of observed facts. In 
other words the pupil should be brought to discover for himself 
the real significance of characteristics which represent conditions 
widely different from those which now prevail. 
Lessons on the Horse and Cow might be followed by others com- 
paring and contrasting these animals. So too the investigation of 
the Sheep might lead up to lessons on the Goat—which in their 
turn would prepare the way for other comparisons and contrasts. 
XXITLE—THE Pit, 
IntropucTION. The Pig is a hoofed mammal, and like 
the Cow and Sheep belongs to the even-toed division of this 
order. It differs from these animals In many ways — 
amongst others in being covered with a thick tough skin ; 
and is for this reason placed with other thick-skinned 
animals—e.g., the Elephant and Rhinoceros—in a division 
of the ungulates known as the pachyderms. 
General description. The body is nearly cylindrical, 
tapering slightly from the shoulders, and supported on 
short: stout legs. 
The head, which is 
long and pointed, 
is placed on the 
same line with the 
trunk, and ends in 
a broad tough disc 
Fig. 144.—The Pig. (the snout). The 
skin is covered 
with stiff hairs or bristles, thickly planted, and the short 
thin tail is generally twisted or curled. The eyes are small 
