268 



MOSCIIID^. 



two young, usually in the cleft of a rock. In six weeks the young can 

 shift for themeelves, and are driven off by the mother. They can pro- 

 create ere they are a year old. They are easily tamed." 



Colonel Markham"says that the Musk-deer is exclusively a forest 

 animal, keeps much to the same ground, and makes a sort of form, like 

 the hare, to lie on in the sun. It usually runs in bounds on all fours, 

 and often makes most astonishing bounds, occasionally 60 feet on a gentle 

 slope for several successive leaps, jumping over considerable bushes at 

 each bound. Adams too states that " its mode of progression is per- 

 formed by series of jerking leaps." It is wonderfully sure-footed, and 

 over rocky and precipitous ground perhaps has no equal. It appears to 

 eat but little, chiefly grasses and lichens. If twins are produced, the two 

 are kept apart, it being very solitary in its habits, even in infancy. The 

 musk is milky for the first year or two, afterwards granular : the dung 

 of the males smells of musk, but the body does not, and females do not 

 in the slightest degree. The flesh is dark red and not musky, and the 

 young is considered to be the best venison in India. 



The Musk-deer is much sought after for its musk, many being shot 

 and snared annually. A good musk-pod is valued at from 10 to 15 

 rupees. The musk as sold is often much adulterated with blood, liver, 

 &c. One ounce is about the average produce of the pod. 



A few anatomical details of great interest by Dr. Camj)bell are here 

 given. 



" The Musk-bag lies at the end of the penis, and might be termed a 

 prjeputial bag. It is globular, about 1| inch in diameter, and hairy, 

 with a hole in the centre about the diameter of a lead pencil, from which 

 the secretion can be squeezed. The orifice of the urethra lies near 

 this, a little posteriorly. Round the margin of the opening of the 

 gland is a circle of small glandular-looking bodies. The musk when 

 fresh is soft, not unlike moist gingerbread. 



" The anus is surrounded by a ring of soft hairs, the skin under 

 which is perforated by innumerable small pores, secreting an abominably 

 offensive stuff, which pressure brings out like honey. The scrotum is 

 round and naked. 



" There is, besides, a peculiar organ or gland on the tail, which indeed 

 is composed almost wholly of it. The tail of the male is triangular, nude 

 above, thick, greasy, partially covei-ed with short hair below, and with 

 a tuft of hairs at the end, glued together by a viscid liquoi'. It has two 



