264 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



one inch in depth and seven lines in diameter. On very large 

 animals I have found it fully one inch and a half in depth. 

 Hairs, though to a limited number, are found within it. On this 

 deer I have found this gland more active than on any of the others. 

 It always contains a considerable amount of the secreted matter, 

 which is about the consistency of cerumen, and a portion of it 

 frequently assumes the form of pellets about the ^ze of a small pea, 

 which, however, ai'e so soft as to be more or less flattened. This 

 substance is of a grayish color, and emits an odor which is strong 

 and offensive to most nostrils. I have never seen a white man 

 smell of it who did not look and express himself disgusted. 



The Columbia Deer possess this gland in each foot. While its 

 location is the same its position seems to be a little different from 

 that on any of the others, and it is more massive, and has the ap- 

 pearance of muscle attached to the inner side of the skin, 

 though in fact it pervades the whole skin. The lobules are 

 larger than on any others examined, being half a line in diameter, 

 and sexangular or octangular in form, and readily distinguished 

 by the naked eye. 



The direction of the opening is more parallel with the line of 

 the foot, the opening being found by passing the probe up the 

 deep indentation between the phalangeal bones. The sack is 

 about seven lines deep and five lines in diameter at the orifice, 

 contracting toward the end. It contains a limited amount of 

 hairs, and the amount of secreted matter within is moderately 

 abundant. Tlie gland is not confined to the sack, but extends 

 down to the extreme point of division between the hoofs, the 

 hairs overgrowing it at the bottom of the indentation, all the 

 way down, being stained a yellowish shade by the exudation. 

 This retains its pungent odor a long time after the death of the 

 animal. This gland is appreciably larger, as we shall see, than 

 is that on the mule deer, which has identically the same gait 

 when at its best speed. 



My opportunities for examining the Mule Deer have been suffi- 

 ciently extensive to be satisfactory. This gland is present in all 

 the feet, but is much less extensive than in the Virginia deer 

 and proportionally less than on the Columbia deer. On a fully 

 adult animal the sack is six lines deep and five lines in diameter. 

 This sack is more abundantly lined with hairs than that on the 

 Virginia deer. These hairs are fine, soft, and elastic, and from 

 their confinement have assumed a curled or curved form. The 

 secretions I found less abundant, and less pungent to the smell 

 than in the Virginia deer or the Columbia deer. 



