We present, on the same page, a few sketches of the babiroussas, a male
and two females, with a young one, recently presented to the society by
Dr. F.H. Bauer. These animals, which are from Celebes, in the Malay
Archipelago, have been placed temporarily in different stalls of the
ostrich house, on the north side of the gardens. The babiroussa is a
species of wild hog, peculiar to the islands of Eastern Asia, and
remarkable, in the male animal, for the extraordinary growth and
direction of the canine teeth. The upper pair of canine teeth, growing
out through the upper jaw, curve backward and upward on the forehead,
having somewhat the aspect of horns; while the lower canine teeth form a
pair of crooked tusks in the under jaw. These teeth may be useful for
defensive fighting, as a guard to the head, but could not serve for
attack. The skull of a babiroussa, with the teeth fully developed, is in
the possession of Mr. Bartlett, the able superintendent of the
Zoological Society's collection.--_Illustrated London News_.
[Illustration: THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS. THE NEW REPTILE HOUSE.]
* * * * *
Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 363, page 5797.