842 MR. K. I. PococK ON THE [Juue 14, 



preservation or auounting ; and inferences as to the absence or 

 size of preorbitiil glands ba-sed upon the depressions on the 

 laci-ymal bone may be quite false. 



On account of their couspicnousness, more information about 

 the preorbital glands has been accumulated than about the inguinal 

 or pedal glands. Although statements as to the presence or 

 absence of inguinal glands are not infrequent, ver}- little has been 

 recorde<l as to their number, dei)tli, nnd nearness to the mammae. 

 The pedal glands have been described as large or small, deep or 

 shallow, present or absent, but no correct conception of their 

 variability in shape, size, and position is conveyed l)y published 

 descriptions. The availa])le information, indeed, on such points is 

 so meagre as compared with the number of species in which they 

 have been recorded, that it has not been possible for systematists 

 to use the.se glands on a large scale for taxonomic purposes. 



Apart from the, comparatively speaking, comprehensive works 

 above quoted, there are many isolated memoirs on the glands of 

 particular species. These are quoted in their appropriate places 

 in the text that follows. There is also a considerable literature 

 dealing with the physiology and histology of the glands. The two 

 papers that I have especially consulted are the following: — An 

 important memoir by Max Weber* upon the structure of the 

 preorbital glands and the nature and use of their secretions in 

 several " Antelopes," with which is incorporated a list of the 

 principal memoirs dealing with the subject of the cephalic glands 

 in this group ; and a special treatise by Max Tempel t, which has 

 for its subject-matter the pedal glands mo.stly of European species 

 of Artiodactyla. This treati.se gives a brief summary of the 

 observations of many authors upon the specialised cutaneous glands 

 of this group, as well as of other Mammalia. Max Tempel adds a 

 tolerably complete bibliography of the subject, and de.scril)es fully 

 the microscopical .structure of the pedal glands of the twelve 

 species examined bj^ him. 



Ill the hopes of adjusting some of the discrepancies above 

 alluded to, of filling certain ob\-ious gaps in our knowledge, and 

 of discovering ])0.ssil)ly at the same time new and useful characters 

 for distinguishing genera and classifying higher groups, I began 

 about three years ago, with the sympathetic concurrence of Mr, 

 F. E. Bedda'rd, F.R.S., the Society's Prosector, to dis.sect, draw, 

 and describe the cutaneous glands of Riiminants that died in the 

 Gardens. But so many important species were unrepresented in 

 our collection, and were likely to remain so, that I soon perceived 

 the necessity of procuring material clsewhert" if the work was to 



* Artli. iiiikr. Aiiiit. xxxi. ))]). .'>(K)-r.lO, 1S88. 



t ' Ver^^l. Aiiiit.-plivsiol. Untcrsncli. iilicr die Driiseu der zwisclitMi Klauenliaut 

 (lev PaiiizrluT,' InuuK.-Diss., Loii)/,!^:, IBiiO (]>]>. l-fi7. 12 pis.). I was uuahlo to see a 

 copy i)t' this pa))('v until my own ohsiTvations upon the same animals wcve conipleti'il. 

 Kxce|it in one or two matters of detail, due jn'iliaps to ditl'ereiice of preservation of 

 material, my results were completely in !ie(v<rd witli this author's. I am indelited 

 to Mr. 15. H. Woodward for the information that a prohahle aluidprment of Max 

 Tempel's pai)er was puhlishod in Arch. Thierheilk. xxiii. pp. 1-48. 



