Southern (American) Elk. 41 



There is a curious structure in the head of the Elk, 

 which deserves particular attention. Under the in- 

 ner angle of each eye, there is an oblique slit or open- 

 ing, which is, externally, about an inch in length. 

 This opening is said to communicate with the nostril. 

 Our hunters assure us, that " the Elk possesses the 

 power, by strictly closing his nostrils, of forcing the 

 air through these apertures, in such a manner as to 

 make a noise which may be heard at a great distance." 

 They say, they have " seen the wild animals do this 

 frequently ; and that the design of it is to alarm each 

 other when they suspect any danger is near*." I 

 cannot, from my own observation, call in question the 

 philosophy of the hunters on this subject. I must 

 suppose, however, that the use of the fissures is more 

 complex than is imagined ; and I rather doubt the 

 explanation of the hunters. The structure which I 

 have mentioned is not peculiar to the Elk. It has 

 been observed in the fallow-deer, and in most of the 

 species of the genus antilope. It seems, in these ani- 

 mals, to serve the purposes of an auxiliary breathing 

 apparatus, and of an organ of smelling. A species of 

 antilope, examined by Mr. Pennant, seemed, in smell- 

 ing, to use the slits beneath its eyes as much as it 

 used the nostrils themselves. In order to throw far- 

 ther light upon the use of this slit, which in the anti- 



* The above words, in inverted commas, are Dr. Smith's, as 

 are also the following : " Mr. Campbell, of Richmond, Virginia, 

 informed me, that in the skeleton head of an Elk, which he had 

 seen, the opening under the eye communicating with the nos- 

 Btril, was so large, that the thumb might be easily introduced in- 

 to it." Medical Repository, p. 170. 

 sufpl. F 



