Mammary Glands of' Cetacea, 368 



On the Structure and Uses of the Mammary Glands of the Ce^ 

 tacea. By Professor Traill. Communicated by the Author. 



In perusing M. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire's interesting Frag- 

 ment on the structure and uses of the mammary glands of the 

 cetacea, it occurred to me that there was an obvious and easy 

 method of ascertaining how far we must admit the distinction 

 attempted to be established by that eminent naturalist, between 

 the process of lactation in terrestrial and aquatic mammalia. 



M. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire describes the formation of the 

 void within the mouth of the young animal, and the flow of the 

 milk, in the usual manner ; but he conceives, that in the act of 

 swallowing, it is essential that the air enter by the nostrils to 

 supply the place of the mouthful of milk that is passing into the 

 stomach. His words are, " Pendant que Vair amhiant^ libre de- 

 sormais de traverser la route des narines, s''en vient remplir Var- 

 riere-bouche, et rendre a la langue et a ses parties accessoires 

 leur premiere aptitude a la deglutition du bol alimentaire^ 

 p. 74. The want of this supply of air, he contends, must pre- 

 vent animals immersed in water from continuing the reiterated 

 efforts of sucking and swallowing without quitting the teat ; and 

 he arrives at the conclusion, that " Le cetace ne tete done point. "^ 



On reading these remarks, I immediately tried whether I 

 could not suck and swallow with my nose closed ; and found 

 that the process was not attended with any difficulty. I disc 

 ascertained that the same could be done when the face was im- 

 mersed in a basin of water. 



But in order to render all the circumstances of the experi- 

 ment as similar as possible to those affecting the lactation of 

 aquatic mammalia, I furnished myself with a bladder, contain- 

 ing half an English pint of milk, and connected it with a short 

 glass tube, surmounted by a cow''s teat. I entered a bath, and 

 plunging the apparatus and my whole body below the water, I 

 found that I could suck and swallow, in successive efforts, as 

 readily as in the open air. There was so little difficulty, that, 

 on removing the cow's teat, I sucked up and swallowed all the 

 milk during four immersions, without any violent effort. 



When such is the case with man, whose power of submer- 



