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Show 1870.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE MAMMALS. 641 in the British Museum. Sus scrofa was at once distinguished by its nasal bones exceeding the head in length, and by the comparative greater distance of the palatal notch from the bulla. The Shanghai and Indian skulls, all of nearly equal size and age, were then carefully compared; and, with the exception of a rather more convex vertex in the former, there was no appreciable difference. Dr. Giinther gave it as his opinion that, judging from the skulls, he would consider the Shanghai and Indian animals to be of the same species. The authors of the ' Fauna Japonica' consider the Sus leucomystax of Japan the stock of the Japanese domestic Pig, from the resemblance of the two. The figure given in that work bears a strong likeness to our Shanghai animal; but the description of the species is too scanty for certain determination. 72. Sus TAIVANUS. (Formosan Wild Boar). Sus taivanus, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 383 ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 26. Porcula taivana, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 360. From the last, or what we take to be Sus leucomystax, the distinction of the Formosan animal is apparent both in skin and skull. I have the skin and skull of one animal about two-thirds grown from Tamsuy (N.W. Formosa), and a large series of the skulls of adults procured in the central mountains of the island from the native Indians, who use them to ornament their shrines. These skulls average in length a foot; and in many the disappearance of sutures and the full development of teeth prove maturity, and show that the Formosan animal does not attain the great bulk of the larger species. Dr. Gunther kindly assisted me in comparing the skulls. In general characters they are allied to those of Sus indicus, but the crown of the head, or space between the orbits, is on the whole flatter than in the latter; and, with the exception of the last molar, the molars (including the premolars) are comparatively larger-indeed, so much so that their united length (though the skulls are greatly smaller, as 12 to 17) about equals that of the same in the other. Their tusks are comparatively smaller and weaker. The females, as a rule, have the vertex much broader than the males ; but its breadth varies greatly in both sexes. The chief difference in its external form appears to be in the shape of the ear, which is broad, rounded on the edge, and drawn to a point in the present species. The accompanying figures (1 and 3) will illustrate this. In the ' Proceedings' of this Society for 1862, p. 360, and for 1864, p. 383, I have already described the appearance of this species when only a few weeks old, and when some months old. I will now describe the animal about two-thirds grown that I procured at Tamsuy. Length 3 feet, of tail 4 inches, of skull 10; height at shoulders about 21 inches; ear 2*5 long, 1*75 broad. Body sparsely covered with light yellowish-brown hair, intermingled with black bristles, which are longer, coarser, and more conspicuous. Ear short and broad, produced to an apex, with some yellowish hair inside and on |
