On the Chiru, or Unicorn of the Uimalayah Mountains. 1(5» 



tlie use of the submaxillary odoriferous gland of the crocodile, which was 

 lately read before the Royal Society. 



" Beneath the lower jaw of the alligator and the crocodile on each side, 

 is situated a gland which secretes an unctuous substance of a strong muslcy 

 odour. About two years since, the author of this paper discovered in it 

 a structure which is without parallel in the glandular system of other ani- 

 mals. His observations were made on the common American alligator. 

 In thisauima:l the external orifice of the gland is situated about two-thirds 

 x)f the lower jaw backwards from the symphysis, being a longitudinal slit 

 a little within the lower edge of the basis of the jaw, through which exudes 

 the substance just mentioned. During warm weather, when the animal 

 feeds freely, the secretion is copious ; but in winter it is much diminished 

 in quantity, and is less powerful in scent. The gland itself is a simple follicle 

 of an elongated pyriform figure lying between the skin and tlie under surface 

 'of the tongue. In an alligator of four feet in length it is about half an 

 inch long, and one-sixth of an inch in diameter. This gland is enveloped 

 by extremely fine and delicate muscular fibres, disposed obliquely, con- 

 sisting of two fasciculae, passing repeatedly over and under the gland, which 

 unite at its base in a long and slender round muscle closely attached to 

 the corner of the os thi/oides, and following the course of another muscle, 

 apparently identical with the mi^lo hyoideus in the mammiferous animals. 

 The use of the muscle appears to be to bring the gland into a proper po- 

 sition for its discharge, and then to operate the discharge by pressure. The 

 author, considering the situation of the gland near the mouth of thealliga- 

 lOTi and the predatory habits of the animal, together with its voracity of 

 fish, and the well-known partiality offish for odoriferous oils and extracts, 

 conceives that this secj'ction acts as a bait, attracting the fish to such a po- 

 sition as will enable the alligator readily to seize them in his usual way 

 t)f seizing his prey, by snapping sideways at them. 



■3. Account of the Chiru, or Unicorn of the Himalayah Mountains. By 

 Mr Hodgson, Surveyor General of India. 

 Mr Hodgson's paper on the Chiru concerned the animal which has been so 

 often mentioned as the Unicorn of the Himalayah. The reports respecting 

 this animal were so numerous and concurring, and so borne out by the spe- 

 icimens of single horns sent down at various times to the Asiatic Society, and 

 by Bhotea drawings of a deer-like animal with one horn springing from the 

 centre of the forehead, that scepticism was almost silenced by the variety and 

 quantity of evidence. The zeal of Mr Hodgson for the advancement of know- 

 ledge, and which has aflPorded to the Asiatic Society the means of judging 

 of the Literature, Antiquities, Arts, and Natural Productions of the Hima- 

 layan Region, has at length settled the question respecting the Chiru or 

 antelope of the Bhoteahs. The skin and horns sent by Mr Hodgson were the 

 spoils of an animal which died in the Menagerie of the Rajah of Nepal, to 

 whom it was presented by the Lama of Digurchi, whose pet it liad been. The 

 persons who brought the animal to Nepal informed Mr Hodgson that the 

 favourite abode of the Chiru is the Tingri Maidan — a fine plain or valley 

 through which the Arrun flows, and which is situated immediately be- 



