

AND THOSE OF CERTAIN OTHER MAMMALIA. 85 



of the bitch as figured by Dr. Sharpey 1 , it is possible to cast the 

 doubt upon that observer's views which M. Robin has done 2 . It 

 is obvious that when glands or follicles are arranged as closely 

 together as in the figure referred to, all increase of their calibre 

 must take place by means of outgrowth of interfollicular or inter- 

 glandular substance, and that, admitting the facts which are 

 incontrovertible, the contradiction of M. Robin amounts but to 

 a dispute 3 as to the use of words. Bischoff's assertion 4 , that the 

 cotyledons of the roe (Cervus capreolus) are devoid of utricular 

 glands, amounts to more than a verbal question ; but as Eschricht 

 and Von Baer had noted their absence in the similar structures 

 of ordinary ruminants 5 many years previously, this observation 

 has little claim to be quoted as novel. 



The decidua reflexa can be scarcely said to be present even as 

 a mere rudiment in carnivora. The mucous secretion found 

 exteriorly to the chorion may perhaps be considered as homologous 

 with the distal part of what in other orders is a coherent, more or 

 less perfectly encapsulating membrane. 



I have not observed, nor do I know, that any observations have 

 been made showing that any variations exist as to the relations or 

 degree of development of the allantois, amnios, or umbilical vesicle 

 within the class Carnivora. 



Von Baer's words (1. c. p. 243), 



• Vielleicht weicht das Ei der Sohlenganger, das ich nicht kenne in einiger Hin- 

 sicht, ab ; beim litis ist der Glirtel des Fruchtkuchens nicht vollstandig,' 



refer in all probability to the description given of the placenta 

 of the ferret by Daubenton, in the ' Histoire Naturelle,' torn. vii. 

 1758. ' litis' is ordinarily used to denote the polecat (Mustela 

 putorius) ; but Von Baer may have thought himself justified in 

 considering the polecat and ferret as of the same species, and using 



1 Miiller's 'Physiology,' translated by Dr. Baly, p. 1575. 



2 Robin, 1. c. p. 132 : ' Les villosite's des cotyledons ou du chorion de l'homme et des 

 autres mammiferes tels que ruminants, rongeurs, carnassiers, solipedes, et fissipedes, 

 n'enforcent pas, comme on le dit, leurs subdivisions terminales dans les glandes tubu- 

 leuses de la muqueuse ute'rine.' 



3 See also Goodsir, 'Anat. and Path. Observations,' 1845, p. 58; and Henle, 

 'Handbuch der Eingeweidelehre/ 1862, p. 462. 



* * Entwickelungsgeschichte des Rehes,' 1854, p. 22. fig. 43; cit. Kolliker, I.e. 

 p. 170. 



5 Von Baer, ' Gefassverbindung,' p. 16; Eschricht, 'De Organis,' p. 36. 



