Page:The Hog.djvu/17

15 —There are two recognized species of this rariety of the hog family, the one found in Guinea and the interior of the Cape, and spoken of by various writers as the Wark-hog, and the other first seen in Kordofan and afterwards in several parts of Abyssinia, and referred to by Ælian as the hog with four horns. Of the habits of these creatures little is known, save that they are inhabitants of forests, and their food is vegetable. They are remarkable for the two warts or fleshy excrescences which disfigure the face on either side; the eyes are small; a bristly mane of a pale brown color rises between the ears and extends itself along the back, many of the hairs of which are from eight to ten inches in length; the body is bare; the tail thin and terminated by a tuft of hair; and the tusks very large and powerful. —is an animal which is often classed by modern zoologists among the Cavies; it also resembles a two-year old hog in shape and color, but its head is longer, its eyes larger, and its nose cleft like the lip of a rabbit, instead of being round. It has thick, coarse whiskers, a narrow mouth, and no tusks. The front hoofs are divided into four parts, and the back ones into three, and these divisions or toes are connected together by skin, and thus in a manner webbed, and adapted for swimming; indeed so much does it delight in the water that by some it has been called the water-hog. It lives upon fruit, corn, and sugar-canes, and eats all the fish it can catch.

These animals associate in herds and seldom go out of their lair excepting in the night time, or quit the borders of some lake or river, for their short legs and strangely-formed feet prevent them from running with any degree of speed, so their only safety is in the water, wherein they plunge on the least alarm.

If taken young this animal may easily be tamed, and is capable of great attachment. We are informed that its flesh is tender, juicy, and fat, but has a fishy flavor; the head is, however, said to be excellent.

Cuvier refuses to admit this last-mentioned animal among the , but places it in the order, genus Cavia.

The animal, too, so well known to us by the name of Guinea-pig, or among the French as the Cochon d'Inde, he also classes among the Rodentia. (Cuvier's Animal Kingdom.)

The name Hog has been given by different nations to various animals which have no affinity whatever with the actual family Sus: thus the Spaniards call the tatous, hogs in armor; the Hollanders term the porcupine, the iron-hog; the porpoise has frequently been designated the sea-hog; and Aristotle speaks of a hog-ape, which has been since supposed to refer to one of the baboon tribe; while among our common animals we have the hedge-hog. This has led to much confusion and misapprehension; but the genus Suidæ or Sus is now very generally allowed to apply only to the actual swine as