DESCRIPTIONS OF MUSEUM SPECIMENS.

[These descriptions are adapted for Museum Labels, and they may be had separately.]

SKULL OF MONTJAC, OR BARKING DEER.

The skull of the little Montjac, or Barking deer, is of interest as showing better than any other the relation of the antler to its pedestal. The pedestal is very long and the antler very small. The latter usually possesses only two tines, the main one and a short stout one which grows near its base. From the front of the pedestal there runs a strong bony ridge down the outer border of the frontal bone as far as the junction with the nasal. This evidently gives strength to the prolonged and rather slender pedestal.

SKULL OF A LLAMA (Camel of America).

The skull of the Llama resembles that of the Camel, and both differ from those of the other ruminants in having incisor teeth in the upper jaw. “These teeth are placed at the side of the intermaxillary bone close to the canines, and agree with them in form” (Van der Hoven, vol. ii., 644).

“There are six incisors only in the lower jaw, and this jaw is undivided.”

The camels and llamas form transition species between horses and oxen (ruminants and solid-ungulates).

THE HORNS OF A GNU.

The Gnu’s horns are alike in both species and may be known at a glance by their hook-like curves. They pass outwards and downwards and then suddenly curve upwards and forwards. They resemble those of buffaloes and perhaps most closely those of the American bison. They are never very large, and always black. They are of fibrous structure and of large girth at their bases, emulating those of the buffaloes. The Gnu in some of its features resembles a little horse, possessing a mane and having its face, tail, and hindquarters much like those of a pony. It has, however, a cleft hoof and a beard which, as well as its horns, distinguish it from the horse family.

One of the gnus has a brindled neck and forequarters, pale streaks on a dark ground, and a black and tufted tail; another has a white tail covered with long hair from its base, and shows no brindling. The latter has an almost straight back, whilst the former stands higher in its forequarters like the bison. The horns of the brindled black-tailed gnu do not pass forwards nearly so much as those of the other.

All the Gnus are South African and would appear to bear the same relation to the buffaloes of that continent that the North American bison does to the American buffalo.

They are active but rather awkward animals, and their self-important airs are sometimes amusing.

THE SKULL OF THE DUGONG, OR HALICORE.

This animal is allied to the Manati, both belonging to the order Sirenia. They are water-living mammals. The dugong occurs only in Eastern and Australian seas, the manati on the coasts of South America and Africa. The grotesquely misshapen aspect of the skull of the dugong is due to the enormous development of the bones in its upper jaw which carry the cutting teeth (premaxillary bones and incisor teeth), and its clumsy lower jaw. The former bear a tusk in the male, which in the female is present but is never cut. There are no canine teeth, and in the massive lower jaw no incisor teeth are ever cut. The rudiment of one is, however, present in the jaw. It may be noted that the bones carrying the upper incisors do not become united to those of the upper jaw. The back teeth (chewing teeth), are only four, five, or six in number in the dugong, whereas in the manati there may be twenty. A remarkable tendency to vary in their dentition is characteristic of this group of animals, and is no doubt in relation with differences in food. A recently extinct member of the family (Steller’s sea-cow) had no teeth at all, but masticated the soft sea-weeds on which it fed by the aid of a horny palate (Rhytina Stelleri).

HEAD OF THE WART HOG (Phacochœrus Æthiopicus).

The Wart Hog is a native of Africa. His name makes reference to a pair of wart-like excrescences, which are formed, one under each eye. These may be an inch and a half in length.

There is an enormous development of the base of the zygoma. The incisor teeth in the upper jaw are often wanting, and sometimes those in the lower also. The snout is short and square. The so-called warts are fleshy skin-growths and may be large enough to look like ears.

There is another Wart Hog (Œliani), met with in Abyssinia. It differs from the Cape Wart Hog in that its incisor teeth in both jaws are more persistent. It has two “warts.”

THE SKULL OF A PIG (Sus scrofa).

The skulls of most of the swine family may be recognised by the long face, and the large size, in both jaws, of their dog-teeth or tusks. These are especially large in the male sex, and are often curiously curved, those of the upper jaw upwards, and those of the lower outwards and upwards. The incisor, or biting, teeth vary very much in different species and at different ages. They are often shed early, especially those of the upper jaw. In some pigs the lower incisors are strong and slope directly forwards, as if for digging. The incisor teeth are of less service in the pig than in most animals, and are only exceptionally used for biting or grazing. The pig makes great use of the snout, and the nasal bones are strong and prominent. The molar teeth are well adapted for chewing, and are usually worn flat on their surfaces. Pigs champ but do not ruminate. They are, for the most part, root-eaters. The rim of the orbit is always imperfect. The normal dentition is three incisors, one canine, and seven molars in each jaw. If the upper canine is extracted the lower one will grow into a complete circle and reach the gum close to the root of the tooth. When thus curved it forms an ornament much valued in Fiji.

SKULL OF THE BABIRUSSA.

Note especially that the tusk of the upper jaw grows upward from the first. No part of it is directed into the mouth. This tusk is of extraordinary size, and it curves upwards so as to touch, and sometimes even to pierce, the skull. They are, as compared with those of other swine, slender tusks, more especially the under ones. The upper tusk grows through the skin of the upper lip. In old animals, when it is well curved, it must be useless as a weapon. It may serve to protect the eyes when the animal rushes through brushwood. In the female the tusks are small.