418 APPENDIX. 



young buck Caribou measured 71 incbes, of tbe old doe 7i inches, and of tbe 

 old buck 9 inches. The gentleman already referred to informed hiui that the 

 Wapiti is a natural trotter, l " he, however, can and does run much faster than 

 he can trot, but it is a labored effort and soon tires him out." " His run is 

 an awkward, lumbering, rolling gallop. A fe.w hundred yards of this gait tells. 

 It is said that an elk will trot at an equal speed without stopping or even fla"'- 

 ging, for twenty miles." The Virginia deer has a tube in each foot fully de- 

 veloped, which led him to inquire the gait of this animal, his impression that 

 it would prove to be a running deer being confirmed. The inference he 

 wished to draw was this, that the number of tubes in the feet of the different 

 species of deer will point out the gait of the animal, those which have a tube 

 fully developed in each foot should be bounders or runners, while those want- 

 ing the tubes, or having them partially developed in the fore and fully in the 

 hind feet should be trotters. This point, as far as he was aware, had never 

 been touched upon by any naturalist, and as it could not be pursued here, he 

 mentioned it in the hope that it may be examined into by those who have 

 access to a number of different species of deer. 



Returning to the tubes, Mr. Morrow stated that as his notes upon them were 

 only those of a hunter and therefore of very little scientific value, he would 

 use those of Dr. Sommers, as follows : — 



In the observations here annexed I have endeavored to furnish an accurate 

 description of the so-called " interdigital glands," which exist in the feet of 

 the Caribou, by subjecting them to very careful anatomical and microscopical 

 inspection. The conclusion at which I arrive relative to their structure and 

 functions is that they are not glandular in the correct meaning of that term, an 

 opinion which coincides with that which you previously expressed. 



This organ presents the appearance of a fleshy tube with thick walls and a 

 rounded blind extremity like that of a small test tube flattened on its posterior 

 or under side, convex on its upper or anterior side; that from the young buck 

 being about one and a half inches in length below, somewhat shorter above ; 

 its cii'cumference about three quarters of an inch; it tapers slightly towards its 

 termination ; when viewed in position it bears a striking resemblance to the 

 human "uvula." The surface exposed by dissection exhibits a structure 

 consisting of rounded or slightly polygonal spaces resembling very large cells; 

 these are convex, of a deep red color, and united by paler interspaces. The 

 whole organ has the appearance of a body constituted of inmicnse cells united 

 by their thin cell walls; this, however, is deceptive, these spaces ai'e the rounded 

 terminations or bases of the bulbs or follicles from which the hairs inside of 

 the sac grow; the resemblance to cellular interspaces arises from the pressure 

 of a very delicate layer of true skin upon which they rest, and which has been 

 pushed into these interspaces by the growth of the hair follicles ; the same 

 structure can be observed in other parts of the skin by dissecting off the true 

 skin which is underneath from the epithelial layer which covers it and gives 

 origin to the hairs ; but here the spaces observed are much smaller, since the 

 hairs and their bulbs are more crowded, the space occupied by each bulb being- 

 less than in the cul-de-sac, or organ under notice. 



The organ in the fore, differs from that in the hind feet by being very shal- 

 low, measuring not over a quarter of an inch in depth; when dissected from 

 the surrounding tissue, it presents all the characteristics of the organ in the 



1 Plains of the Great West, by Col. Dodge, pages 164 and 166. 



