290 MORROW — NOTES ON TEE CARIBOU. 



for some years, in answer to enquiries made by an American 

 naturalist, the Honorable Judge Caton, of Ottawa, 111. ; and this 

 is the first one we have ever seen, and my Indian, to whom I point- 

 ed it out, immediately after the buck was shot, told me that he had 

 never before seen it. It may be taken as a mark of adult age, and 

 will not probably be found on any Caribou under the age, perhaps, 

 of six years. This gland was 4 inches above the insertion of 

 the dew claws, and lOf inches below the centre of the hock 

 " gland." You will also see it on the leg of the old doe, but not 

 so perfectly marked, perhaps owing to the lighter colour of the hair 

 which surrounds it, — the doe having been killed in February, the 

 buck in December. # 



It may not be out of place to mention that the buck Caribou, as 

 well as the moose, often voids its urine while on the march, as the 

 ox may be seen to do. 



The tubes in the feet of the Caribou are another point to which 

 your attention is directed, and which first attracted the notice of 

 Dr. Gilpin, from inquiries made respecting them by the American 

 naturalist already named. Dr. Gilpin and others, including myself, 

 thought that they were only to be found in the hind feet of this 

 animal, and the discovery of them in the fore feet is due entirely to 

 Dr. Sommers. 



In Camper's description of the reindeer, made in 1771, (vol. I. 

 page 347, Paris, 1803) he says, speaking of these tubes: "In 

 addition to the peculiarities of the reindeer, of which I have just 

 spoken, I have discovered besides something very singular in the 

 hind feet of this animal ; that is to say, a deep sheath between 

 the skin at the place where the dew claws are united together, of 

 the size of the barrel of a quill, running deeply as far as the point 

 where these dew claws are articulated with the bone of the meta_ 

 tarsus. These tubes were filled internally with long hairs, and a 

 yellow oleagenous matter proceeded from them, the odour of which 

 was not very agreeable. 



' ' I have not found these tubes in the forefeet. It was not 

 possible for me to discover the use of them, inasmuch as the heat 

 of the summer obliged me to remove the flesh quickly from the 



