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Show 26-:1: SEXUAL SELECTION: l\1Al\1li1ALS. PAit'l If. dangerous to man as one at the age of six or seven years.35 In tho full-oTown male Babirusa pig of Celebes (fig. G4), the lo~er tusks are formidable wea~onR, l~ke those of the European boar in the prime o~ hfe,.wlubt tho upper tusks are so long and have tbmr P?mts so much curled inwards, sometimes even tonchmg tho forehead, that they arc utterly useless as weapons or attack. Thev more nearly resemble horns than teeth, and are so ~anifestly useless as iecth that the animal was formerly suppos d to rest his head by hooking th?m on to a branch. Their convex surfaces would, however, al Brehm, ' Tbicrlebcn,' B. ii. s. 729 732. .CIIAP. XVII. MEANS OF DEFENCE. 265 if the head wore held a little laterally, servo as an excellent guard ; and hence, perhaps it is that in old animals they "are generally broken off, as if by "fighting." 36 Here, then, we have the curious case of the upper tusks of tho Babirusa regularly assuming during the prime of life, a structure which apparently renders them fitted only for defence; whilst in the European 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. Fl.;. U5. Ileu<l of .IEthlopiun Wart-hog, from '!'roc. Zoo!. Soc.' 1 69. (I now find that this drawing represents the bend of a female, btlt it serves to shew, on a reduct·d scale, the characters of tbe male.) In the wart-hog (Phacochoe?·us mthiopicus, 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 30 See 1\'Ir. Wallace's interesting account of this nnimal 'Tho Malay A1·cbipelago,' 1869, vol. i. p. 435. ' |
