Several breeds, differing in the proportions of the body, in the length of the ears, in the nature of the hair, in colour, &c., come under the _S. Indica_ type. Nor is this surprising, considering how ancient the domestication of this form has been both in Europe and in China. In this latter country the date is believed by an eminent Chinese scholar[150] to go back at least 4900 years from the present time. This same scholar alludes to the existence of many local varieties of the pig in China; and at the present time the Chinese take extraordinary pains in feeding and tending their pigs, not even allowing them to walk from place to place.[151] Hence the Chinese breed, as Nathusius has remarked,[152] displays in an eminent degree the characters of a highly-cultivated race, and hence, no doubt, its {69} high value in the improvement of our European breeds. Nathusius makes a remarkable statement (Schweineschädel, s. 138), that the infusion of the 1/32nd, or even of the 1/64th, part of the blood of _S. Indica_ into a breed of _S. scrofa_, is sufficient plainly to modify the skull of the latter species. This singular fact may perhaps be accounted for by several of the chief distinctive characters of _S. Indica_, such as the shortness of the lachrymal bones, &c., being common to several of the species of the genus; for in crosses the characters which are common to many species apparently tend to be prepotent over those appertaining to only a few species. The Japan pig (_S. pliciceps_ of Gray), which has been recently exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, has an extraordinary appearance from its short head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, and deeply furrowed skin. The following woodcut is copied from that given by Mr. Bartlett.[153] Not only {70} is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are harder than the other parts, almost like the plates on the Indian rhinoceros, hang about the shoulders and rump. It is coloured black, with white feet, and breeds true. That it has long been domesticated there can be little doubt; and this might have been inferred even from the fact that its young are not longitudinally striped; for this is a character common to all the species included within the genus _Sus_ and the allied genera whilst in their natural state.[154] Dr. Gray[155] has described the skull of this animal, which he ranks not only as a distinct species, but places it in a distinct section of the genus. Nathusius, however, after his careful study of the whole group, states positively (Schweineschädel, s. 153-158) that the skull in all essential characters closely resembles that of the short-eared Chinese breed of the _S. Indica_ type. Hence Nathusius considers the Japan pig as only a domesticated variety of _S. Indica_: if this really be the case, it is a wonderful instance of the amount of modification which can be effected under domestication.