many other quadrupeds the glands are of the same size in both sexes,[1] but their uses are not known. In other species the glands are confined to the males, or are more developed than in the females; and they almost always become more active during the rutting-season. At this period the glands on the sides of the face of the male elephant enlarge, and emit a secretion having a strong musky odour. The males, and rarely the females, of many kinds of bats have glands and protrudable sacks situated in various parts; and it is believed that these are odoriferous.
The rank effluvium of the male goat is well known, and that of certain male deer is wonderfully strong and persistent. On the banks of the Plata I perceived the air tainted with the odour of the male Cervus campestris, at half a mile to leeward of a herd; and a silk handkerchief, in which I carried home a skin, though often used and washed, retained, when first unfolded, traces of the odour for one year and seven months. This animal does not emit its strong odour until more than a year old, and if castrated whilst young never emits it.[2] Besides the general odour, permeating the whole body of certain ruminants (for instance, Bos moschatus) in the breeding-season, many deer, antelopes, sheep, and goats, possess odoriferous glands in various situations, more especially on their faces. The so-called tear-sacks, or suborbital pits, come under this head. These glands secrete a semi-fluid fetid matter which is sometimes so copious as to stain the whole face, as I have myself seen in an antelope. They are "usually larger in the male than in the female, and their development is checked by castration."[3] According to Desmarest they are altogether absent in the female of Antelope subgutturosa. Hence, there can be no doubt that they stand in close relation with the reproductive functions. They are also sometimes present, and sometimes absent, in nearly-allied forms. In the adult male musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus), a naked space round the tail is bedewed with an
- ↑ As with the castoreum of the beaver, see Mr. L. H. Morgan's most interesting work, 'The American Beaver,' 1868, p. 300. Pallas ('Spic. Zoolog.' fasc. viii. 1779, p. 23) has well discussed the odoriferous glands of mammals. Owen ('Anat. of Vertebrates,' vol. iii, p. 634) also gives an account of these glands, including those of the elephant, and (p. 763) those of shrew-mice. On Bats, Mr. Dobson in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1873, p. 241.
- ↑ Rengger, 'Naturgeschichte der Säugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 355. This observer also gives some curious particulars in regard to the odour.
- ↑ Owen, 'Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 632. See, also Dr. Murie's observations on these glands in the 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1870, p. 340. Desmarest, On the Antilope subgutturosa, 'Mammalogie,' 1820, p. 455.
