39 



received from Mr. Hodgson of Nepal, a Corresponding Member of 

 the Society, a letter in which, among other subjects, some remarks 

 are made on this organ as it exists in the Thar Antelope, and in the 

 Cervus Aristotelis : in the former of those animals, Mr. Hodgson's 

 observations prove that during the breeding-season tlie lacrymal sinus 

 is in a high state of activity. Mr. Hodgson's letter, which is dated 

 Nepal, June 18, 1835, refers also to other glands in some other An- 

 telopes, as will be seen by the following extract. 



" The Chiru Antelope has exceedingly large inguinal sacs, which 

 hang by a long narrow neck from the loins. The longitudinal quasi 

 maxillary gland of the Cambin Otan I doubt the existence of, and 

 believe its ' suborbital sinus ' to be similar to that of Thar. 



" The latter differs essentially from that organ in any Deer or An. 

 telope I have seen ; being furnished with a huge gland, filling the 

 whole cavity or depression on the scull, and leaving the cuticular fold 

 void of hollowness : it is filled up, like the bony depression, by the 

 gland; whereas the gland of this sinus, in most Deer and Antelopes, 

 is a tiny thing, and a dubious one. As to any Cervine or Antilopiue 

 animal breathing through the suborbital sinus, it cannot be, unless 

 they can breathe through bone and skin ! If you pass a fine probe 

 down the lacrymal duct, you see the probe through the bottoni of 

 the osseous depression holding the cuticular fold called the suborbital 

 sinus. But, however thin the plate of bone at the bottom of the 

 former, it is there, without breach of continuity; and the cuticular 

 portion of the apparatus has a continuous course throughout, leaving 

 no access to the inside of the head. I am watching closely a live 

 specimen of Cervus Aristotelis, to discover, if I can, the use of this 

 organ. In a recently killed male of this species, I passed a pipe into 

 the nose, up to the site of the suborbital sinus, and tried, in vain, for 

 half an hour, with the aid of a dozen men's lungs, to inflate the sinus. 

 Not a particle of air would pass; nor could I cause the sinus to un- 

 fold itself, as the live animal unfolds it, by means of a set of inuscles 

 disposed crosswise round the rim of it. In dissecting the sinus, I 

 found only a feeble trace of a gland ; so also, in the Muntjac. 



" But in the Thar, the gland is conspicuous, being a huge lump of 

 flesh, bigger than, and like in shape to, the yolk of an egg. The live 

 r/»ar, too, in the springespecially,poursout a continuous stream of thin 

 viscid matter from the sinus; not so in any Deer. The Thar's gland 

 seems to me connected with the generative organs: and I take its 

 profuse secretion to be a means of relieving the animal (when it has 

 no mate particularly) from the extraordinary excitement to which it 

 is liable in the courting-season. 1 have witnessed that excitement, 

 and have been amazed at its fearful extent, topical and general, for 

 six weeks and more. 



"The Chiru's labial sacs, or intermaxillary pouches, are, most 

 clearly, accessory nostrils, designed to assist breathing at speed. 



