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Show 174 MAMMALIA. upon roo t san d other vegetable substances, and exhibit much ferocity and stupidity. One species is only known. . H. amphibius, L.; Buff. Supp. III, 4 and 5 • • (The H1ppopota- mus. N ow co nfined to the rivers o. f the middle and so. uth of Afdca. It formerly found its way mto Egypt by the Nile, but has long disappeared from that country. . . The bones of a species of Hippopotamus very Similar to that of Africa, and those of two or three other successively smaller ones, have been found in Europe. See my Rech. sur les Oss. Foss. tom. 1. Sus, Lin. Each foot of the Hog consists of two large middle toes armed with strong h oo11.' s, and two much shorter lateral . on.e s that har. dly .r each the ground ; there is a variable number of mcisors, the mfer10r of which always slant forwards; the canini project from the mouth an d curve up Wards ,• the muzzle terminates by a sort. of trunc. ated button fitted for turning up the earth; the stomach 1s but shghtly divided. . . Hogs properly so called, have twenty-four or twenty-eight grmd· ers of ~hich the posterior are oblong with tuberculous crowns, ~nd th; anterior more or less compressed, and six incisors in each JaW. 8. scropha, L.; Buff. V, :x.iv and xvii. The W~ld Ho.g, which is the parent stock of our Domestic Hog and. Its var1e· ties, has prismatic tusks that curve outwards and sl~ghtl! up· wards · the body short and thick ; straight ears ; the hair bmtled and bl~ck; the young ones striped black and whit~. It does great injury to fields in the vicinity of forests, by tearmg up the ground in search of roots. . . . The Domestic Hog varies in size, in the he1ght of 1ts legs~ In the direction of its ears, and in colour, being sometimes whlt~, and at others black, red or varied. The great utility of t~IS animal from the facility with which it is fed, the flavour of ltS flesh, the length of time it can be preserved by means of salt£ and finally, from its fecundity, which greatly surpasses tha~ 0 any other animal of its size, the female frequently producm~ fourteen at a litter, is well known to every one. The period 0 gestation is four months, and they produce twice a year. The Hog continues to increase in size for five or six years, is pro· lific at one, and sometimes lives for twenty. Although naturally savage, they are social animals, and know how to defend them· selves against Wolves by forming a circle, and showing a front to the enemy in every direction. Voracious and clamorousd they do not even spare their own young. This speoies is sprea P ACHYDERMAT A. 175 throughout the globe; and none but Jews and Mahometans refuse to eat its flesh. 8. larvatus, Fr. Cuv.; 8. africanus, Schreb. CCCXXVII.; Sanglier de Madagascar, Daub. MDCCCLXXXV; Samuel Daniels, Afric. Scenery. (The Masked Sanglier.) Tusks like the common Hog; but on each side of the snout, near the tusks, is a large tubercle, nearly similar to the mamma of a woman, supported by a bony prominence, which gives it a very singular appearance. It inhabits Madagascar and the south of Africa. 8. babirussa, Buff. Supp. III, xii. (The Babiroussa.) Higher and lighter than the others ; the tusks are long, slender, and turned vertically upwards ; the upper ones inclining spirally backwards. From some of the islands in . the Indian Archipelago. We may separate from the Hogs the PHAcooHJERus, Fred. Cuv.(l) G~inders composed of cylinders, cemented together by a kind of cortical substance, very similar to the transverse laminre of those of the Elephant, and like them succeeding each other from behind. The cranium is remarkably large ; the rounded tusks, inclined laterally upwards, are of a frightful magnitude; and on each of their cheeks hangs a thick fleshy lobe, which completes the hideousness of their figure. They have only two incisors above, and six below. Those brought from Cape Verd generally have the incisors very complete-S. africanus, Gm.: in such as are from the Cape of Good ~o.pe-8. retMopicus, Gm.; Buff. Supp. III, xi, they are scarcely VISible, some vestiges however exist under the gum. This difference may arise from age, which may have worn them away in the latter ' or it m ay m· dI' cate a d'1~ur erent speci·e s, more especi· ally as the head of those from the Cape of Good Hope is somewhat larger and shorter. w· . lth stlll more propriety do we separate from the Hogs the DxcoTYLE, Cuv.(2) y 0 .r the Pecaries, which have, it is true, grinders and incisors very Imllar to those of the Hog properly so called, but their canini di-rected l1'k . . ' e those of ammals m general, do not project from the rnout~, and they have no external toe to their hind foot. There is no tall and u h 1 . . . h ' • pant e oms IS a glandular openmg from which a fetid llmour IS ex t d rfh 1 ere e · e metatarsal and metacarpal bones of their -IVo- g-reat toes are soldered together like those of the Ruminantia, -------------------------------- g~ ~~o-chaJrua, Hog with a wart. tcotyle, double navel, from the opening on the back. |