62 MR. OGILBY'S MONOGRAPH 



maj' be the value of Colonel Smith's supposition, that the crumens are themselves 

 organs of smell, — they certainly have nothing to do with respiration, — they may, 

 and I believe do, contribute to the intelligence of the animals in another way. During 

 a series of experiments which I made upon this subject in the year 1833, I noticed 

 that the Gazelles and Antelopes in the Society's gardens frequently protruded the 

 crumen, and rubbed its inner surface against the paUng and rails of the compartments 

 in which they were confined, seeming to take a pleasure in smeUing, and hcking it 

 afterwards. A male and female Gazelle occupied contiguous compartments ; I had them 

 changed, and found that they immediately discovered the viscous deposit, and became 

 restless and agitated ; the male Gazelle was, some days after, made to change places with 

 an Indian Antelope, but neither animal appeared to take the slightest notice, or to be 

 aware of the presence of its predecessor. This, to be sure, is but a single experiment ; 

 but it countenances the idea, highly probable in itself, that the deposit which the ani- 

 mals leave behind them, by rubbing the crumens against the shrubs or stones of their 

 desert and mountain habitats — for it is only the inhabitants of such localities that are 

 furnished with these organs, at least among the hollow-horned family — may serve to 

 direct them in their wanderings and migrations, when the storms and fogs incident to 

 such places obscure all visible landmarks. But whatever it may be, the principles of 

 sound philosophy and the great doctrine of design forbid us to entertain the notion that 

 so remarkable an organ has been formed without some special and appropriate function 

 in the animal oeconomy : though it is certainly not subservient to the purposes of 

 breathing, as some authors ^ have supposed, it is, nevertheless, too constant in form, 

 and too universally found in animals of the same natural group, to allow of its being 

 omitted among their generic characters. 



There is a peculiar modification of the crumens found in the Duikerbok, Philantomba, 

 and other allied species, which has been generally considered as a distinct organ, though 

 certainly without sufficient reason. There is no actual sac or pit, but the organ appears 

 externally in the form of a long, narrow, superficial stripe of naked black skin, and 

 secretes a thin watery-looking fluid, which oozes out through numerous minute pores, 

 and thickens on exposure to the air. Neither their superficial character nor their situ- 

 ation, however, is sufficient to constitute them different organs. They are equally su- 

 perficial in the Gnoo and Hartebeest, though placed in the usual position ; and I have 

 myself ascertained that the gland is invariably lodged in the usual hollow of the lachry- 

 mal and its contiguous bones, the long naked stripe on the cheek being only a modifi- 

 cation of its outlet. M. F. Cuvier" and Colonel Smith', indeed, report that these 

 maxillary glands sometimes exist simultaneously with the crumens ; but this is con- 

 tradicted by my own observations in one of the cases which they adduce, that, viz., of 

 the Cambing Outan, and what I have said above will be sufiicient to disprove it in 



' Col. Smith, in GrifF. Anim. King., iv. 163. - Hist. Nat. des. Mam., art. Cambtan. 



' GrifF. Anim. King., iv. 



