986 ON THE CUTANEOUS SCENT-GLANDS OF RUMINANTS. [June 14^ 



if there is any truth in the supposition that such pouches are a 

 source of weakness. 



In tlie case of Alee the nearly vesti^'ial nature of tlie pedal 

 gland is accompanied hy two features in this genus which have 

 an interesting hearing on the suggestions here ])ut forward to 

 account for the retention or loss of interdigital clefts and glands. 

 In the first place, this Deer is of great stature and weight, the 

 latter requiring strong feet for support and the former making 

 concealment from sight, involving the necessity of tracking hy 

 scent, less likely than in the case of smaller animals. In 

 the second place, length of limb is correlated with shortness of 

 neck, so that the Moose can only with difhculty reach the ground 

 with its nose. Scent-tracks left by the feet, therefore, would be 

 of comparatively little use in enabling one Moo.se to find another. 



Ko I)eer known to me have such .sti'ongly built completely 

 webbed feet as are found in the large Bovi(he like Taurotrayas 

 and Bos, or indeed as in some of the smaller members of that family, 

 like Telracerus and Oreotra(/iis. Generally speaking, there is a 

 greater tendency towai-ds plantigradism and there is nearly always 

 a more marked depression on the fiont of the pastern. This is to 

 be attril)uted, I supjiose, to the circiunstance that Deer are for the 

 most part denizens of woodland country, woods, jungle, or swamps, 

 where the .soil is usually .softish and yielding. This brings vis to 

 the fact, otherwise perha^is seemingly opposed to the suggestion 

 here made as to the cause conducing to the su}){)re.ssion of the 

 pedal gland in the hind foot, that a large and heavily I)uilt animal 

 like the Reindeer none the less retains a well-developed glandular 

 pouch. The Reindeer, however, lias a foot eminently ada})ted for 

 travei'sing soft ground, whether it be snow oi' swam}), and does not 

 retpiire a foot of such strength as to call for the suppression of 

 the glandular pouch. 



Tliat the Cervida', like the Bovidse, originally possessed inter- 

 digital clefts and glands on the front as well as on the hind feet is 

 probable on general gi-ounds, and also fx'oni the fact that a gland 

 is retained on the front foot in a state of greater or lesser 

 development in some American Deer, while a moderately deep 

 cleft is present on the front foot of Dama. The only suggestion I 

 can at ])re3ent make to account for the greater compactness of the 

 fore feet as compared with the hind feet is the fact that all 

 Deer, I believe, both stags antl hinds, commonly use their fore feet 

 both in attick and defence, dealing blows with great precision, 

 swiftness, and .strength. This I have myself witnessed on more 

 than one occasion. For such a i)urpose it seems obvious that 

 a strongly built foot is required. 



These brief comments on llie ])ionomics of Ruminants indicate 

 in a general way the lines along which research, likely to lead to a 

 better understanding of the structure of the feet and the reasons 

 for the retention or loss of the pedal glands, may probably, I 

 think, be pursued with profit; 



