The Descent of Man

Scotch deer-hound may probably be accounted
for.
[Fig. 65. Head of Common wild boar, in prime
of life (from Brehm).]
The males of some few quadrupeds possess
organs or parts developed solely as a means of
defence against the attacks of other males. Some
kinds of deer use, as we have seen, the upper
branches of their horns chiefly or exclusively
for defending themselves; and the Oryx antelope,
as I am informed by Mr. Bartlett, fences
most skilfully with his long, gently curved
horns; but these are likewise used as organs of
offence. The same observer remarks that rhinoceroses
in fighting, parry each other's sidelong
blows with their horns, which clatter loudly
together, as do the tusks of boars. Although
wild boars fight desperately, they seldom, according
to Brehm, receive fatal wounds, as the
blows fall on each other's tusks, or on the layer
of gristly skin covering the shoulder, called by