(302 DR. E. CRISP ON THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. [May 23, 



oily, liquid nature) was very abundant, but not deposited under the 

 skin as in the Hippopotamus, in the Hogs (Suidce), and in some 

 other animals. Gordon Cumming speaks of the abundance of fat in 

 the inside of many elephants that he killed ; and the same remark is 

 made by other travellers. I purposely introduce these questions of 

 food and fat, as some of my hearers (who may not be anatomists) 

 may think a digression of this kind a relief among dry anatomical 

 details. 



For the better understanding of the subject, I have placed before 

 the Society drawings, of nearly the natural size, of the organs of all 

 the thoracic and abdominal viscera, as well as casts and preparations 

 by way of illustration. 



' Time will not allow me to describe all the anatomy of this animal ; 

 indeed the stomach alone, if properly studied, might form the sub- 

 ject of a long paper. T shall therefore on the present occasion con- 

 fine myself to the visceral anatomy, or to such parts of it as I was 

 able to investigate, and to the skin-glands. In my next paper I will 

 remark on the peculiarities of the viscera of the Hippopotamus as 

 compared with those of the other pachyderms. 



First, of the skin-glands. Mr. Tomes in 1850, soon after the arrival 

 of the first Hippopotamus at the Gardens, read a paper* "On the 

 Blood-coloured Exudation from the Skin of the Hippopotamus." 

 He says, " We have, however, sufficient evidence to warrant the con- 

 elusion that the thick tenacious exudation, whether coloured or other- 

 wise, is poured out only during the time the skin is immersed in 

 water, and that it has an especial reference to the aquatic habits of 

 the animal. It appears for the time to convert the surface of the 

 body into a mucous membrane, and then, on the animal leaving the 

 water, to furnish by its inspissation an epidermis. The examination 

 of the structure of the skin will become a subject of great physiolo- 

 gical interest." 



When I discovered the glands I am about to mention I did not 

 know of Mr. Tomes's paper, my attention having being subsequently 

 directed to it by Mr. Bartlett. Under the skin, about an inch or 

 more below the surface, are numerous small glands of a somewhat 

 rounded form, about 2 lines in diameter and ^ line in thickness ; 

 they are generally seated about ^ inch from each other, but in some 

 parts of the body they are further apart. From each generally pro- 

 ceeds two ducts, of a somewhat spiral form ; in other instances I have 

 been able to discover only one duct. In the preparation before the 

 Society some of these ducts are visible to the naked eye. The con- 

 dition of the skin from the application of heat has not enabled me 

 to make so satisfactory a microscopic examination of these organs as 

 I otherwise could have done. 



The subjoined sketch which I have made gives a tolerable indica- 

 tion of the character of these glands and their ducts. Figure 1 re- 

 presents the glands of their natural size, and figure 2 shows the ducts 

 magnified about 10 diameters. 



* Proc. Zool. Soe-. \K>(), p. UIO. 



