1870.] DR. J. MURIE ON SAIGA TARTARICA. 493 
therefrom in an oblique line cutting the said point and the thyroid 
gibbosity. It has an irregular elongate triangular figure, 3 inch 
broad behind and narrow in front. Its borders and surfaces are 
more or less concave ; and the cartilage altogether is stout, thick, and 
from 0°3 inch deep behind lessens considerably forwards. At the 
external cricoid joint there is a considerable-sized nodosity ; and the 
inner superior margin is crescentically ridged and overtopped by the 
cartilage of Santorini. 
The latter (S) is a thin falcate lamella of soft yellow fibro-cartilage, 
some 0°8 inch long, and above 0°3 inch in extreme depth. It forms 
a crest, as said, to the arytenoid, and is itself covered by a fatty 
layer, producing those posterior elevations of the postlaryngeal 
aperture (s. p) already dilatedon. It may be that these include the 
cartilages of Wrisberg, which otherwise are wanting. 
The cartilage of the epiglottis has a consistence like the last, is of 
obcordate shape when cleaned of investing membrane, and has a re- 
troverted broader tip than in the Prongbuck. 
As regards the structure of the Saiga’s larynx, it may be regarded as 
an intermediate type between the Sheep’s and that of some Antelopes 
and Deer. In Ovis we have a rudimentary condition or tendency of 
the thyroid cartilage to inferior enlargement. This becomes more 
marked in such forms as the Gazella dorcas, G. rufifrons, and 
Tarandus rangifer, as Meckel* has noted. In Hyomoschus aquati- 
cus this protuberance is increased in dimensions, as Flower + figures, 
but is not, as he supposes, peculiar to this Ruminant ; for, as long ago 
demonstrated by Pallas, the Antilope gutturosat is notorious and 
specifically named on account of its great thyroid development, which 
is said, indeed, to produce quite a gular swelling. As figured, this 
thyroid inflation is several inches in diameter. The single thyroid 
sacculus contained within, doubtless coexists in these latter forms, as 
in Saiga, thus differing from several of the Pachyderms’ and other 
types, where there are a pair of lateral sacculi. In the Horse, how- 
ever, there is a similar recess at the base of the epiglottis. 
Concerning the voice of the Saiga, if this be studied not purely phy- 
siologically, but as a sign indicating affiliation of stock, it is of some 
interest. The tone and manner of utterance is remarkably like that 
of a Sheep, to wit, a single full bleat or bay, the shrill treble note 
of Goats aud most Antelopes being markedly varied from that of the 
above genera. The Deer generally have a more grunting tone, though 
extensively modified in different genera, as, indeed, also obtains in the 
Antelope section. 
Of the muscles connected with the larynx and its bony arch, the 
sterno-hyoid and sterno-thyroid, long and fleshy, are united opposite 
the posterior end of the thyroid gland on the fourth cartilaginous 
ring of the trachea: here they separate ; the former continues in the 
middle line to the os hyoides, whilst the narrower sterno-thyroid 
diverges slightly outwards, and is inserted by a short broad tendon 
into the outer posterior margin of the thyroid cartilage. The crico- 
* Anat. Comp. vol. x. p. 604. + Loc. cit. p. 955. 
¢ Spice. Zool. tab. iii. fig. 16. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. XXXIII. 
