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Show 1897.] SPECIES OF POTAMOCHCERUS. 363 breeding purposes, Nathusius states (' Racen des Schweines,' 1860, and ' Vorstudien,' 1864) that in English agricultural writings from the beginning to the middle of last century it is stated that besides the Chinese and Romanic Pig, the Red Pig from Guinea has been used in England for crossing. Nathusius quotes no particular author, and I have not been successful in my inquiries in the library of the Royal Agricultural Society, where no books of the last century seem to be kept. The only paragraphs found to the purpose are the following :-John Laurence J says : " The African H o g is red or sandy in colour, with a small head, long, slender pricked ears, soft and short hair, and a long tail touching the ground. I know not whether this be the same variety used in this country as a cross under the name of the African." David L o w is somewhat more positive2:-" Hogs are sometimes introduced from Africa, and mingled with the other races. Those from the coasts of the Atlantic are termed Guinea Pigs, their descendants are of tolerable size and square form, and fattened with sufficient facility." To conclude on this matter. Whilst the question as to the rearing and crossing of the Guinea Hog in former times, either in America or in England, is still an open one, there is no doubt in my mind that the Potamochcerus penicillatus (Schinz) must be called Potamochcerus porcus (L.). The South and S.E.-African Potamochcerus (P. africanus, auctt., P. larvatus, Er. Cuv. part.) must be called Potamochcerus cheeropotamus (Desmoul. 1831); for "Sus africanus, Gmel., 1788," the Phacochcerus africanus, has priority over " Sus afi-lcanus," Schreber, the figure of which (head), without text, was published, according to Sherborn3, in 1791; besides, this figure might as well have been taken from the Madagascar species. The description of Sus larvatus of Fr. Cuvier (1817) is mainly based on a skull of the Madagascar W d d Boar, and partly on the drawing by Samuel Daniell4, a caricature of Phacochcerus, with some admixture of Potamochcerus, which could never stand as the type of a species. 1. POTAMOCHCERUS LARVATUS (E. CUV.). (Plate XXV. fig. 2 and Plate X X V I . fig. 2.) This name must, for the reason given above, be reserved for the Malagasy Wild Boar, of which, for the present, I can only acknowledge one species. Particular interest attaches to the Wild Hog of Madagascar, on 1 JOHN LAURENCE. A General Treatise on Cattle: London, 1805, p. 510. 2 DAVID Low. The Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Islands.- Vol. ii. (London, 1842), "Hog," p. 18. 3 P. Z. S. 1891, p. 587. 1 SAMUEL DANIELL. African Scenery and Animals.-No. 21: " The African Hog " : London, 1805. 24* |
