12 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
helps the solvent powers of the menstruum*. The bags are only 
properly developed in the male animal. The evident purpose 
of the odour is, so far as the animal is concerned, that of attracting 
the opposite sex. 
There. are other small animals going by the name of “ Musk 
Rat,” having the upper lip elongated into a snout or short pro- 
boscis, such as the Russian Musk Rat or “ Desman” (Mygale 
moscovita), figured in Button’s Nat. Hist. tab. x. This is common 
on the borders of rivers and lakes in the South of Russia ; it 
feeds on worms, larve, and leeches, which it extracts from the 
mud with its flexible proboscis ; its odorous principle is secreted in 
small follicles beneath the tail. Its odour is so powerful as to be 
communicated to the pike which feed on it. The Musk Rat of the 
Antilles (Mus pilorides) is a true rat, and a very voracious and 
noxious little animal. 
There is another Musk Rat, native of India, called the “ Sondeli,” 
which often utterly spoils provisions by the persistency and 
strength of its odour. It is called the “ Ondrata” by Rimmel, 
but it may be the Sorex Indicus. It is common in the lower and 
central regions of Nepal, also in Spam. In some parts of Ceylon 
this rat is a great pest. It is asserted that wine-merchants have 
to carefully seal with wax every bottle of wine in a cellar, to 
prevent the powerful secretion of these rats from penetrating the 
corks, and so spoiling the wine. 
The “ Musk Ox” (Bos moschatus), found in the coldest parts of 
North America, has many striking peculiarities which appear to 
give it an alliance to the goat, rather than to the ox, yet the 
general figure and size will warrant the naturalist in placing it in 
the bovine tribe. A singular secretion of musk strongly pervades 
and taints its flesh, particularly the heart and kidneys ; this is said 
to be much more manifest in the lean than in the fat kine. 
The natives living in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert collect 
the droppings of a small Antelope (Antelope Dorcas), which, when 
dried, is quite as fragrant as musk. Analysis proves this product 
to contain 63 per cent. of undigested vegetable matter, 26 per cent. 
of insoluble mineral matter, and only 10 per cent. of matter 
soluble in water and spirit; this consists of a musk-like resin, 
benzoic acid, biliary acid, and biliary colouring-matters. This 
antelope is very common in the Desert, and is called by the Arabs 
* Ph. J. [3] xv. p. 87. 
