200 Language of Animals [FOURTH WEEK 



power of perspiring, but compensate for this by very 

 rapid breathing. On the contrary, four-footed animals 

 have glands on many portions of the body. Nature is 

 seldom contented with the one primary function which 

 an organ or tissue performs, but adjusts and adapts it to 

 others in many ingenious ways. Hence, when an animal 

 perspires, the pores of the skin allow the contained moist- 

 ure to escape and moisten the surface of the body; but 

 in addition to this, in many animals, collections of these 

 pores in the shape of large glands secrete various odours 

 which serve important uses. In the skunk such a gland 

 is a practically perfect protection against attacks from his 

 enemies. He never hurries and seems not to know what 

 fear is a single wave of his conspicuous danger signal is 

 sufficient to clear his path. 



In certain species of the rhinoceros there are large 

 glands in the foot. These animals live among grass and 

 herbage which they brush against as they walk, and thus 

 "blaze" a plain trail for the mate or young to follow. 

 There are few if any animals which care to face a rhi- 

 noceros, so the scent is incidentally useful to other creatures 

 as a warning. 



It is believed that the hard callosities on the legs of 

 horses are the remains of glands which were once upon a 

 time useful to their owners; and it is said that if a paring 

 from one of these hard, horny structures be held to the 

 nose of a horse, he will follow it about, hinting, perhaps, 

 that in former days the scent from the gland was an in- 

 stinctive guide which kept members of the herd together. 



"Civet," which is obtained from the civet cat, and 



