586 A. M. REESE 



to be filled with a fat or oil; they are clear and spherical, with a 

 much flattened nucleus just beneath the cell membrane. A 

 majority of the cells, o' , while spherical in shape, still contain a 

 greater or less amount of granular protoplasm, in which the 

 nucleus lies. While an occasional cell, gs" , may be seen in which 

 the entire content is granular; most of these are indistinct in 

 outline and of moderate size. A number of irregular cells, with 

 little or no contents may be seen, cs, which have the appearance 

 of being empty cell membranes; these may be the remains of cells 

 from which the granular or the fatty secretion has been emptied. 



Numerous nuclei, nu, may be seen scattered among the cells; 

 since they are not shrunken, but are usually well formed, they 

 may be those that have been extruded in the breaking down of 

 the granular rather than of the oil cells. 



What the function of these dorsal glands may be it is diffi- 

 cult to surmise. No odor was detected in connection with them 

 such as evident with the submandibular and cloacal musk glands. 

 Their small size and wide distribution over the dorsum of the 

 animal might indicate that they are of use in keeping the scales 

 in good condition, making them comparable to the oil glands 

 in the skin of mammals. 



Possibly in the living animal the dorsal glands may have an 

 odor and may function as accessory musk glands, though, as 

 as stated above, no odor has ever been noticed by the present 

 writer. 



THE MUSK GLANDS 



According to Gadow ('01) : 



All the recent crocodilia possess two pairs of skin-glands, both secreting 

 musk. One pair is situated on the throat, on the inner side of the right 

 and left half of the lower jaw. The opening of the gland, visible from 

 below . . . ., is slit-like, and leads into a pocket, which in large speci- 

 mens is the size of a walnut ; the bag is filled with a smeary pale brown- 

 ish substance, a concentrated essence of musk, much prized by natives. 

 The secretion is most active during the rutting time, when the glands are 

 partly everted. My young Crocodiles and Alligators often turned 

 them inside-out, like the finger of a glove, when they were taken up and 

 held by force. The other pair hes within the lips of the cloacal slit, and 

 is not visible from the outside. The use of these strongly seen ted organs, 



