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Show 78 DOMESTIC PIGS. CHAP. JII. degrees, dependent on the climate; thus, according to Houlin, the semi-feral pigs in the hot valleys of New Granada are very scantily clothed ; whereas, on the Paramos, at the height of 7000 to 8000 foot, they acquire a thick covering of wool lying under the bristles like that on the truly wild pigs of France. These pigs on th~ Paramos are small and stunted. The wild boar of India is said to have the bristles at tho end of its tail arranged like tho plumes of an arrow, whilst the European boar has a simple tuft ; and it is a curious fact that many, but not all, of the feral pigs in Jamaica, derived from a Spanish stock, have a plumed tail.29 With respect to colour, feral pigs generally revert to that of the wild boar; but in certain parts of S. America, as we have seen, some of the semi-feral pigs have a curious white band across their stomac.hs; and in certain other hot places tho pigs arc reel, and this colour has likewise occasionally been observed in the feral pigs of Jamaica. From these several facts we see that with pigs when feral there is a strong tendency to revert to the wild typo ; but that this tendency is largely governed by the nature of the climate, amount of exercise, and other causes of change to which they have been subjected. The last point worth notice is that we have unusually good evidence of breeds of pigs now keeping perfectly true, which have been formed by the crossing of several distinct breeds. 'rho Improved Essex pigs, for instance, brood very true ; but there is no doubt that they largely owe their present excellent qualities to crosses originally made by Lord vVestern with the Neapolitan race, and to subsequent crosses ·with the Berkshire breed (this also having been improved by N capolitan crosses), and likewise, probably, with the Sussex breed.30 In breeds thus formed by complex crosses, the most careful and unremitting selection during many generations has been found to be indispensable. Chiefly in consequence of so much crossing, some well-known breeds have undergone rapid changes; thus, according to Nathusius,31 the Berkshire breed of 1780 is quite 29 Gosse's ' Jamaica.,' p. 386, with a quotation from Williamson's 'Oriental l!,iold Sports.' Also Col. Hamilton Smith, in 'Naturalist's Libmry,' vol. ix. p. D4. 3o S. Si' lney's edition of 'Youatt on the Pig,' 1860, pp. 7, 26, 27, 2(), 30. 3I 'Schweiueschiidcl ,' s. 140. CHAP. III. CATTLE: TIIEIR PARENTAGE. 79 different from that of 1810; and, since this latter period, at least two distinct forms have borne the same name. CATTLE. DoMESTIC cattle are almost certainly the descendants of more than ono wild form, in the same manner as has been shown to be the case with onr dogs and pigs. Naturalists have genera11y made two main divisions of cattle: the humped kinds inhabitinotropical countries, called in India Zebus, to which the speci:fl~ name of Bos lndieus has been given; and the common nonhumped cattle, generally included under the name of Bos taurus. The humped cattle were domesticated, as may be seen on tho Egyp~ian monuments, at least as early as the twelfth dynasty, that Is 2100 n.c. They differ from common cattle in various osteological characters, even in a greater degree, accordino- to H~ti:ney~r,32 than do the fossil species of Europe, namely Bos p~zmzgemus, longifrons, and frontosus, from each other. They d1ff~r, also, as Mr .. Blyth,33 who has particularly attended to this subJe~t, remark.s, m general configuration, in the shape of their ears, m tho pomt. where th~ dewlap commences, in the typical curvature of their horns, m their manner of carrying their h.eads ·~hen at rest, in their ordinary variations of colour, espemal~ y m the frequent presence of "nilgau-like markings on t~eu~ feet," and " in. the one Leing born with teeth prott.~ chng throu?h the Jaws, and the other not so." They have different habits, and their voice is entirely different. Tho humped cattle in India " seldom seek shade, and never go into t~e water and there stand knee-deep, like the cattle of Europe." 'Ih~y h~ve run wild in parts of Oucle and Rohilcund, and can :amta.~n themselves in a ~·egi?n infested by tigers. They have biVen nse to many races cliffermg greatly in size, in the presence 32 'Dio Fauna dor Pfahlbauton '18G1 1:1. ~O?, 1~(), 222. See also Geoffro~ Saint lhlruro, m 'l\'Icm. du Mus. d'llist. Nat.,' torn. X. p. 172 ; anu his son Isidore in 'llist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. G(). Va~cy in his 'Delineations of the Ox Tribe : !851, P· 127, says tho zebu hns fou;. :tnd tho common ox fi VC', sacral vertebrro: Mr. liodgson found the ribs cithC'r thirteen or fourteen in number; see a note in ' Indian Field,' 1858, p. 62. 33 'The Indian Field,' 1858, p. 74, where Mr. Blyth gives his authorities with respect to the feral humped cattle. Pickering, also, in his 'Races of Man,' 1850, p. 274, notices tho peculiar chnn<ctcr of tho grunt-Jilco voice of the hump d cA.ttlo. |