Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/231

 PECCARY 221 ]y. No one seems to have followed Michaux's suggestion to graft this upon the common (English) walnut to promote its growth and fruitfulness. As with the shell-bark hickory, Pecan (Carya olivaeformis). Fruit and Leaf reduced, and Nut of nearly natural size. individual trees may be found which produce nuts much larger and with thinner shells than the average ; these should be selected for prop- agation. The home traffic in the nuts is con- siderable, and large quantities are shipped to Europe, where they are expressed to obtain their oil ; in productive years the small port of Indianola, Texas, before the war exported as many as 100,000 bushels. PECCARY, a mammal of the hog family, and genus dicotyles (Cuv.), peculiar to America. In this genus the incisors are -; the canines wild boar, but very much as in other mammals, small, triangular, and very sharp, the upper Collared Peccary (Dicotyles torquatus). ones directed straight downward; the molars l, tuberculate; the fore feet are four-toed, and the hind ones three-toed, the outer acces- sory hoof being wanting ; a mere tubercle in place of a tail ; according to Cuvier, the meta- carpals and metatarsals of the two longest toes on all the feet are united as in ruminants, but this Van der Hoeven says is far from being always the case. On the back, a few inches from the tail, in both sexes, concealed partly by the hair, is a gland which secretes a very fetid fluid ; this bears a rude resemblance to a navel, and the generic name was derived from it, from dfc, double, and norvfy, cavity. The head is broad, pointed, and rather large in pro- portion to the body; the ears moderate and pointed, the eyes small, the snout blunt, the legs thin and slender, and the skin covered with close, very stiff and sharp bristles. The collared peccary or Mexican hog (D. torquatus, F. Cuv.) is about 3J ft. in the male from snout to root of tail, the female being a little small- er; it is shorter but more compact than the domesticated hog ; the hair is ringed with black and white, rather long, lightest at the tip ; from each shoulder runs a more or less distinct white collar on each side of the neck. They usually go in couples or in small parties of eight or ten, and not so often in large herds as the next spe- cies ; they prefer woods and swampy grounds, but wander wherever food is abundant, even into the enclosures of the planter, where they often commit great havoc ; w r hen attacked by wild beasts or by man, a herd will form a cir- cle, with the young in the centre, and repel even the jaguar with their sharp teeth, in this way often killing dogs and severely wounding the hunter. The food consists of nuts, fruits, seeds, grain, roots, and whatever living thing they can find on or under the ground ; they are omnivorous, though less carnivorous than the domestic hog; the flesh is white and tender, more like that of the hare than the hog, and with very little fat ; when the animal is killed, it is necessary at once to cut out the dorsal gland, else the whole flesh would be tainted by its se- cretion. They live in holes in trees or in the ground, or in any cavity which affords shelter; they are often very bold, and attack men with- out provocation ; a dog unaccustomed to hunt- ing them is at once surrounded and killed. This species is found in Mexico and in the Uni- ted States as far as the Red river in Arkansas, in lat. 31, probably as far west as California, and in South America as far as Paraguay in lat. 27 S. When taken young they are easily domesticated, but do not mix or breed with the common hog; they bring forth only once a year, and one or two at a birth ; they are rath- er sensitive to cold, and easily irritated, and manifest pleasure by a hog-like grunt. The white-lipped peccary (D. labiatus, Cuv.) is of a general blackish color, with the lower jaw white ; it is larger than the last, living in soli- tary forests in large troops, and is hunted by the natives for its flesh ; it is found in South America, but does not associate with the other species. Travellers speak of a variety or per- haps a distinct species in Honduras, of a dirty black color with long tangled hair, going in
 * l|, not projecting beyond the lips as in the