OCR Text |
Show 218 MR. A. S. WOODWARD ON THE MANDIBULAR [Apr. 20. I was fortunate enough to bring home living examples of both these species, which are now deposited in the Zoological Gardens at Berlin. The specimen of Sus papuensis was obtained in the month of May, on the north coast of N e w Guinea, near the place noted on the charts "Passir Point," a point, however, which does not really exist; it was then striped, but has now changed to the coloration of the adult animal. The Black Pig (Sus niger) I purchased at Hihiaura, a village some miles east of Bentley Bay ; it was then very young (perhaps six weeks old), and of a uniform black colour, which it still retains. Sus niger is scarcer than Sus papuensis, but lives in the same localities ; it is of a more slender figure, higher on its legs and has a much longer head. It grows to a considerable size, and I have seen very huge animals of this species. I have observed Sus niger in a domesticated or semidomesticated state everywhere I have been in N e w Guinea along the south-east coast, and on the north-east coast from Milne Bay to Humboldt Bay, but always less common than Sus papuensis. The natives catch the young ones and feed them ; they are pets of the women and often nursed at their breasts, and get very tame. This is the reason why it is so difficult to get them. I have seen some very large specimens in Hood-Bay district (village Kerapuno). Along the north-east coast I saw this species in all the native villages, especially in Chads Bay, in Village Island west of Fortification Point, in Astrolabe Bay, and in Humboldt Bay. It may be mentioned that along this coast I never saw any imported domestic pigs, but such pigs have been introduced into the Port-Moresby district and other places where missionaries have been sent. The only specimen of Sus niger in a Museum that I know of is a young one in the Museum of the Hon. William MacLeay of Sydney. 3. On the Relations of the Mandibular and Hyoid Arches in a Cretaceous Shark (Hybodus dubrisiensis, Mackie). By A. S M I T H W O O D W A R D , F.G.S., of the British Museum (Natural History). (Communicated by the Secretary.) [Received March 23, 1886.] (Plate XX.) Exactly as in all other divisions of the Animal Kingdom, the rapid accumulation of morphological facts regarding the Selachian order is providing a sure basis for distinguishing the more archaic from the decidedly modern types. There can be no longer any doubt, for example, that among living Selachians the most primitive and ancient forms are the Notidanidse, the Cestraciontidaa, and the Chlamydoselachidse. And of all the characters by which these groups are definitely marked off from the remaining members of the Order, none are of greater interest and importance than those relating |