in Deers and Antelopes. 75 



in others this communication is so imperfect that a doubt is at 

 once raised as to its destination to such a purpose. If the part 

 in question be not a cavity, as suggested by some, in which the 

 overflowing secretions from the surface of the eye are dis}X)sed 

 of by evaporation, another reason for its existence must be as- 

 signed. The arguments which may be urged against the sup- 

 position that it is destined to receive the tears are, first, that it 

 exists in the antelopes and deers only, and is even absent, or 

 merely rudimental, in many of these ; while in animals said to 

 be destitute of the usual canals for carrying off the tears to the 

 nose, as the elephant and hippopotamus, it is absent ; secondly, 

 that the solid concretions generally found in it are not composed 

 of such ingredients as the tears and other secretions from the 

 surface of the eve should afford. 



If the conclusion that these are cavities for the reception of 

 tears be discarded, their identity of nature and character with 

 the numerous provisions for the secretion of peculiar or odorife- 

 rous materials suggests itself. In many instances, especially in 

 the mammalia, glands are found opening on the surface of the 

 skin, and pouring out peculiar fluids, sometimes altogether un- 

 connected with any organ ; such are the glands on the side of the 

 head between the eye and ear of the elephant, those described 

 by Tiedemann between the eye and nose in certain bats, con- 

 sisting of a sac with a folded lining membrane, affording a foetid, 

 oily secretion, and beneath the eye in the marmot and two- toed 

 ant-eater ; such also are the glands on the side of the chest of 

 the shrew, described by St Hilaire, and the inguinal glands of 

 hares. Still more remarkable examples are furnished by the 

 pouches, affording the valuable odoriferous materials in the 

 Diusk, beaver, and civet ; and if additional examples be re- 

 quired, they are found in the otter, male hyena, ichneumon, 

 badger, and the dorsal gland in the peccary. That the cavities 

 alluded to in the deers and antelopes afford peculiar and often 

 odoriferous secretions, is established on the authority of several 

 naturalists. Buffon describes the contents in the stag as resem- 

 bling ear-wax. Daubenton found the secretion in an old stag 

 so much indurated as to constitute a solid mass, or bezoard, 

 as he calls it, eleven lines long, seven broad, and six thick. 

 Camper found hard, yellowish particles in the fallow deer. In 



