AT DAGGERS DRAWN ^i 



be so, one or other would surely have degenerated. 

 It is significant that in the hornless Musk-deer these 

 teeth attain to a very considerable length, at their 

 maximum as much as three inches. That they are used 

 by rival males, and with effect, is shown by the fact that 

 the hides of these animals are often found scored by deep 

 lines cut by these tusks. In those aberrant ruminants, 

 the Camels, quite formidable tusks are present both in 

 the upper and lower jaws, and these are used with effect 

 whenever occasion demands, and often when it does not. 



The armoury necessary for successful love-making 

 contains yet other weapons, evolved to supplement 

 physical force, and more subtle in their effect. Such are 

 certain skin glands which, at the rutting season, secrete 

 a copious flow of a creamy, or semi-fluid matter, and pun- 

 gent odour. In the deer the more important of these are 

 found in the deep pit, or " larmier," which opens in front 

 of the eye. In the Musk-deer, however, this secretion 

 has a most powerful odour of musk, and is formed in 

 a pouch, or " pod," of about the size of a small orange, 

 under the skin of the abdomen. The secretion, which is 

 formed by the male only, is of a chocolate colour, and of 

 about the consistence of moist gingerbread. It has a most 

 pungent scent, and when diluted forms the basis of many 

 of our most powerful and most highly-prized perfumes, 

 on which account, it may be mentioned, this animal has 

 for generations been submitted to a most unrelenting 

 persecution. But that is another story. 



In most of the antelopes the principal scent gland is 

 seated in a pit in front of the eye, as in the deer. In some, 

 as in the Gnu, it forms instead a swollen, tumid area, 

 oblong in shape, instead of lying in a pit. In the Reed- 

 buck it is placed around the bases of the horns ; and in 



