uliar to the island; but a much
more curious animal of this family is the Babirusa or Pig-deer; so
named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks
resembling horns. This extraordinary creature resembles a pig in general
appearance, but it does not dig with its snout, as it feeds on fallen
fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the
upper ones instead of growing downwards in the usual way are completely
reversed, growing upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on
each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the eyes, and in old
animals often reaching eight or ten inches in length. It is difficult to
understand what can be the use of these extraordinary horn-like teeth.
Some of the old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by which
the creature could rest its head on a branch. But the way in which they
usually diverge just over and in front of the eye has suggested the more
probable idea, that they serve to guard these organs from thorns and
spines, while hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of
rattans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not satisfactory,
for the female, who must seek her food in the same way, does not possess
them. I should be inclined to believe rather, that these tusks were once
useful, and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but that changed
conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop
into a monstrous form, just as the incisors of the Beaver or Rabbit
will go on growing, if the opposite teeth do not wear them away. In old
animals they reach an enormous size, and are generally broken off as if
by fighting.

Here again we have a resemblance to the Wart-hogs of Africa, whose upper
canines grow outwards and curve up so as to form a transition from the
usual mode of growth to that of the Babirusa. In other respects there
seems no affinity between these animals, and the Babirusa stands
completely isolated, having no resemblance to the pigs of any other part
of the world. It is found all over Celebes and in the Sula islands,
and also in Bourn, the only spot beyond the Celebes group to which it
extends; and which island also shows some affinity to the Sula islands
in its birds, indicating perhaps, a closer connection between them at
some former period than now exists.

The other terrestrial mammals of Celebes are five species of squirrels,
which are all distinct from those of Java and Bor