298 MORROW — NOTES ON THE CARIBOU. 



in the fullest degree, since I there found the structure as well 

 developed as in the young animal. I now feel more than ever 

 convinced that it exists in all our deer tribe, not excluding the 

 Wapiti, although it may be larger in some than in others ; an 

 immature living moose in possession of Mr. J. W. Stairs, being 

 provided with it. 



" The following summary of its Histological relations will aid 

 in arriving at correct conclusions relative to its importance : — 



" 1st. It is a growth or offset from the epidermic layer of the 

 skin, invaginated between the phalangeal bones, containing the 

 Malpighian and horny layers of the epidermis, and carrying with it 

 a very thin layer of the true skin. 



" 2nd. Hair follicles and hairs growing from its internal walls 

 and emerging through its opening, these being also epidermic or of 

 epithelial origin. 



"3rd. The absence of glandular tissue, excepting the sebace- 

 ous follicles which accompany the hair follicles or bulbs over the 

 whole integument of the animal, ' this exception is made for obvious 

 anatomical reasons,' nevertheless the sebaceous follicles were not 

 observed in the specimens examined with the microscope. 



" 4th. The examination of the matter filling the tubes in the 

 Virginia Deer, and present in much smaller proportion in the 

 Caribou, showed it to consist in principal part of desquamated 

 epidermic scales and oil globules ; microscopically it resembled 

 smegma from the skin of man, or perhaps closer still the ' vernix 

 caseosa,' from that of the recently delivered infant, remembering 

 that the epidermis in man and in all animals is a non-vascular 

 tissue, that unlike our other tissues it is shelled off from the sur- 

 face ; we can readily account for these desquamated scales being 

 retained here in a narrow pocket, from which they could not be 

 readily discharged. Retrograde changes in these cells, secretions 

 from sebaceous and sweat glands in adjacent parts will account, 

 not only for the oily matter seen, the viscidity of the substance, 

 but also for the odour which it possesses, the latter being no greater 

 than that of the general integument, and arises from the same 

 cause, viz. : the perspiration, but in this respect they are not in 



