OCR Text |
Show 48 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE SUIDAE. [Jan. 9, cutting-teeth that have the premolars still present and the hinder molar small, and there are specimens which have the cutting-teeth that have lost or are losing the premolars and have the hinder molar very large and well developed. Nine of the skulls or front parts of the upper jaws were bought of Mr. Argent, who purchased them all together with a collection of Cape skins : five of these jaws have distinct teeth in the upper jaw, and four of them are without any indications of them ; therefore the presence or absence of the upper cutting-teeth is common to animals inhabiting the same locality, not peculiar to the Phacochere of different districts of Africa as has been supposed. Professor Sundevall observes, " Sus (Phacoch.) eeliani, Crzm.; Ph. harroya, Ehr., in Caffraria a Wahlbergio inventus est. Plura specimina utriusque sexus retulit, nullum vero suis iEthiopici ibi vidit."- CEfversigt K. V. Akad. Forh. 1846, p. 121. I cannot discover any difference between the skull which we received from Professor Sundevall as P. eeliani from Caffraria and the skulls without cutting-teeth which were obtained from Mr. Argent, which are called P. cethiopicus. There is no difference, as far as I can see, except size, between the very large skull of a male from Cape Verde, that was given to the Museum by Mr. T. Tatum, and the skulls from South Africa and Caffraria in the Museum Collection, and the skull figured by Dr. Riippell as the type of his P. eeliani. It is said that P. cethiopicus, without upper cutting-teeth, has a soft sac under the eyes, which is not to be observed iii P. africanus, that has cutting-teeth in the upper jaw. Perhaps that may be a sexual character; for it was a male P. cethiopicus that was first described, with a large mane of slight bristles. The teeth in the lower jaw are generally well developed and large. There is one skull in the British Museum, from Mr. Argent, iu which they are nearly worn away to the roots; they are small. This skull has no upper incisors. De Blainville figures a lower jaw in which they are entirely absent, and another in which there are only two very small teeth (Osteogr. Sus, t. 5, Sus cethiopicus). It has been proposed to divide Phacochcerus into two species, thus characterized:- P. cethiopicus. Head short; forehead convex ; cutting-teeth none above, and small and deciduous below. P. eeliani. Head elongate; forehead convex ; cutting-teeth two in upper, six in lower jaw, both large and exserted. I cannot find any difference in the form of the head and forehead between the specimens with and without cutting-teeth in the upper jaw. The head is as long and the forehead is as concave in the skulls that are destitute of upper cutting-teeth as in those that have them well developed. There is a considerable variation in the skulls. The skull of the male from the Zoological Gardens is much broader, and the forehead more concave, than the skulls of the females from the same collection • but these are from animals that have been kept in confinement'. |