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64 Zoological Society : — PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ZOOLOGICAI^ SOCIETY. December 14, 1852.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. On the Painted Pig of the Camaroons (Potamochoerus penicillatus). By John Edward Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. etc. This Pig was imported into Liverpool, where it remained some time, being regarded as the common Cape " Bosch Vark." It was at length purchased by the Society, and is one of the most interesting additions made during the course of the present year to the very numerous series of animals now in the Gardens. It differs in colour and proportions from the Cape " Bosch Vark," but like it belongs to a very distinct group of Pigs from those found in Europe and x4.sia, and from the Babyrussa of the Malay Islands. In the * Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for October 1852, I gave a short account of this animal, and formed a genus for this group of African Pigs, to which I gave the name of Choiropota-mus, describing the present species by the name of C. pictus, and it is figured under this name in the * Illustrated London News.' Since these notices were published, I have found that it will be necessary to change both these names ; the first because there is a genus of fossil animals described by Cuvier, which has been called Cheiropo-tamus. I therefore propose to reverse the words and call the genus Potamochoerus. The specific name is changed because the pig appears to have been described in 1848 from a specimen in the Museum of the town of Basle in Switzerland, in a work which has not yet reached this country, but a short abstract of the description has been copied into a French Journal. The group of Pigs (Sus, Cuvier) may be divided into three very well-marked genera, distinguished by their external appearance, pecu-liarities in the skull, and by their geographical distribution, thus : — Genus 1. Sus. The ears rounded ; tail slender ; face conical, simple, or with a small wart on each cheek ; the hinder upper part of the intermaxillary bones simple ; the upper canines coming out on the lower edge of the maxilla and then recurved. Found wild in Europe and Asia, but domesticated in all parts of the world. This genus contains several species, and almost the whole of them are found wild in the forest, whilst some of their descendants are generally to be met with in a domesticated or semi-domesticated state. This is the case with the Pigs found in the islands of the Indian Archi-pelago, which have been regarded as distinct species. I may state that it is exceedingly difiicult to distinguish the species of this genus, especially from the examination and comparison of the skull. I have examined with care ten skulls of what I believe to be the European Wild Boar and its oifsprhig, grown in this country, at the Cape of Good Hope, and at the Gambia, and twelve skulls of the

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Proceedings of Learned Societies

Annals And Magazine of Natural History (2) 15: 64-76 (1855)

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