Wild Boar, but less obliquely abraded. The two small lateral
incisors are more incurved towards the intermediate ones. The
incisors are disposed more nearly in a transverse line on the
broad expanded symphysis of the Phacochère than in the narrower
jaw of the Hog. The lower canines are more slender, more
divergent, and sharper than in the Wild Boar ; but otherwise
resemble them in their trihedral shape and in the partial disposition
of the enamel, and its continuation into the alveolus. I
have seen but one premolar tooth on each side of this jaw, with
a crown reduced by attrition to one anterior and two posterior
lobes, five lines in long diameter. In one specimen the stump of
the first true molar remained, wedged in between the last premolar
and the second true molar ; in another a short vacancy showed
the place whence the first true molar had been expelled : the
second and third molars-resemble those above, but are rather
narrower transversely. The crown of the first true molar,
examined at a period before its characteristic structure is
obliterated, as in the young Phacochère before the second true
molar has cut the gum, has the same complex pattern as that
above ; and measures nine lines by three lines, on the grinding
surface : it is supported by four fangs, the hind pair being very
long and strong.(1) The last molar in this jaw has the same
(1) The first true molar tooth, in both jaws of the Phacochoerus Æ liani appears to
have escaped the attention of MM. F. Cuvier and Rüppell. M. F. Cuvier in his
Monograph on the two species of Phacochère in the ‘Mémoires du Museum’ tom. vm .
1822, p. 450, represents a skull of the Nubian species with the last upper molar only in
place: and in the ‘ Dents de Mammifères, p. 213, he assigns but three molars to each
side of the upper jaw in both species, which teeth appear from his description to be the
two premolars and the last true molar. The figure of the teeth of the upper jaw, in
PI. 87 of the ‘ Dents de Mammifères, is taken from the South African Wart Hog (Phacochoerus
P allasii, v. der Hoeven.) Dr. Rüppell’s elaborate Monograph relates exclusively to
the Nubian or North African Phacochère. He says, “ In all our specimens of both young
and adults, and of both sexes, the upper jaw has fo u r, the under jaw three molars : the
first and second are small, narrow, roundish, with simple crowns, and each implanted by
two roots in two separate sockets : the third (in the upper jaw ; second in the lower) is
strong (stark) ‘ and as broad as the fourth ; its grinding surface has five simple crowns’
(‘ kronen-kerne’, our enamel-islands) | four at the angles and one in the middle : it has
four roots wedged into fonr separate sockets/ ” Then follows the description of the complex
last molar tooth, the fourth in the upper, the third in the lower jaw. The smaller rooted
teeth above described are the two premolars, and the second true molar in the upper jaw ;
rootless condition as the one above, upon which its longer
duration than the preceding rooted molars depends, as Dr. Rüppell
well remarks, (loc. cit. p. 63.)
In the Wart Hog of South Africa, (Phacochoerus Pallasii, v.
der Hoeven) (1) there are no incisive teeth in the upper jaw of the
mature animal, and the traces of four small incisors are almost
obliterated in the lower jaw of the skull before me.(2) The large
upper tusks differ from those of the Ph. Æliani in the deeper
and narrower groove along their front and back part, and they
are inclined more forwards. One simple, single fanged premolar,
remains in the place near the base of the tusk corresponding with
that of the first of the three deciduous molars in the young
animal. The analogues of the two premolars in the specimen of
Ph. Pallasii described, are shed, together with the first and
second true molars, and the work of mastication has been carried
on by the last large complex molar exclusively. The three series
of columns of which this tooth consists appear to be more regular
in form than in the Ph. Æliani; but this may depend on the
tooth having been worn lower in the specimen of Ph. Pallasii here
described, in which the long diameter of the grinding surface is
two inches one line, the short or transverse diameter half an inch.
In the lower jaw the stumps of four small incisors may be seen
razed to the level of the edge of the symphysis. The canines,
and the figures (loc. cit. tab. 26, figs, c, d,) well exemplify this stage of dentition,
which is the most. common in the adult Phacochoerus Æ liani. How the first true molar,
or the vestiges of its socket and the vacancy between the last premolar and second true
molar should have escaped the observation of the accomplished Abyssinian traveller, in
the younger specimens^ to which he alludes, I cannot explain : they are obvious in three
out of five examples of this species in the Hunterian Museum. In the immature Nubian
Phacochère five molars are present when the second true molar has risen into place ;
and it will be seen from the description of the deciduous dentition of the Phacochoerus
Æ liani in the text that it had escaped the notice of Dr. ' Rüppell. The skull of the
Phacochoerus Æ liani figured in Home’s Comparative Anatomy, tom. II, PI. xxxix, shows
the two premolars and the second and third true molars.
(1) Sus Æ thiopicus, Pallas, Miscell. Zool., 16, tab. xi.
(2) M. F. Cuvier first pointed out the absence of incisors as a specific distinction of the
South African species : but he had also observed on the margin of the symphysis of the lower
jaw ‘ quatre dépressions à égale distance l’une de l’autre/ ‘ Mém. du Mus/ viii, p. 453. Similar
depressions contain stumps of incisors in the specimen here described.