280 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. Part IL 



trated whilst young never emits it.^° Besides the general 

 odour, with which the whole body of certain ruminants 

 seems to be permeated during 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 seen in the case of an ante- 

 lope. They are " usually larger in the male than in 

 " the female, and their development is checked by cas- 

 " tration." -^^ According to Desmarest they are alto- 

 gether absent in the female of Antilojpe siibgutturosa. 

 Hence, there can be no doubt that tbev stand in some 

 close relation with the reproductive functions. They 

 are also sometimes present, and sometimes absent, in 

 nearly-allied forms. In the adult male musk-deer 

 (Mosclms moschiferus), a naked space round the tail 

 is bedewed with an odoriferous fluid, whilst in the 

 adult female, and in the male, until two years old, tliis 

 space is covered with hair and is not odoriferous. The 

 proper musk-sack, from its position, is necessarily con- 

 fined to the male, and forms an additional scent-organ. 

 It is a sinoular fact that the matter secreted bv this 

 latter gland does not, according to Pallas, change in 

 consistence, or increase in quantity, during the rutting- 

 season ; nevertheless this naturalist admits that its pre- 

 sence is in some way connected with the act of repro- 



^^ Kengger, ' Natiirge.sehiclite der Saugethiere von Paraguay,'. 1830, 

 s. 355. This observer also gives some curious jjarticulars in regard to 

 the odour emitted. 



^1 Owen, ' Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 632. See, also, Dr. 

 Murie's observations on their glands in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1870, 

 p. 340. Desmarest, On the Antilope suhgutturosa, ' Maiumalogie,' 1820, 

 p. 455. 



