English
Long-legged
Male. African
Female. Chinese
Male. Wild Boar
from Cuvier. French
Domestic
Boar, from
Cuvier. Dorsal vertebræ 15 13 15 14 14
Lumbar 6 6 4 5 5 Dorsal and lumbar
together 21 19 19 19 19 Sacral 5
5 4 4 4 Total number of
vertebræ 26 24 23 23 23
Some semi-monstrous breeds deserve notice. From the time of
Aristotle to the present time solid-hoofed swine have occasionally
been observed in various parts of the world. Although this
peculiarity is strongly inherited, it is hardly probable that all
the animals with solid hoofs have descended from the same parents;
it is more probable that the same peculiarity has reappeared at
various times and places. Dr. Struthers has lately described and
figured[24] the structure of the feet; in both front and hind feet
the distal phalanges of the two greater toes are represented by a
single, great, hoof-bearing phalanx; and in the front feet, the
middle phalanges are represented by a bone which is single towards
the lower end, but bears two separate articulations towards the
upper end. From other accounts it appears that an intermediate toe
is likewise sometimes superadded.
Illustration: Old Irish Pig, with jaw-appendages.
Another curious anomaly is offered by the appendages, described by
M. Eudes-Deslongchamps as often characterizing the Normandy pigs.
These appendages are always attached to the same spot, to the
corners of the jaw; they are cylindrical, about three inches in
length, covered with bristles, and with a pencil of bristles rising
out of a sinus on one side: they have a cartilaginous centre, with
two small longitudinal muscles they occur either symmetrically on
both sides of the face or on one side alone. Richardson figures
them on the gaunt old “Irish Greyhound pig;” and Nathusius states
that they occasionally appear in all the long eared races, but are
not strictly inherited, for they occur or fail in animals of the
same litter.[25] As no wild pigs are known to have analogous
appendages, we have at present no reason to suppose that their
appearance is due to reversion; and if this be so, we are forced to
admit that a somewhat complex, though apparently useless, structure
may be suddenly developed without the aid of selection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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