1837.] on the Musk Veer of Nip a I. 119 



You will readily observe that the anatomical notes are very incom- 

 plete, and that they have been copied " in the rough" as made at the 

 dissection ; but their accuracy, and the interesting nature of the 

 animal they appertain to, may nevertheless render them acceptable 

 to the curious in such matters. 



A musk deer (Cacharya) male, mature. — Length from vent to 

 occiput 2 feet 2h inches : occiput to snout 7 inches : tail a mere 

 rudiment, 1^ inch long, terminating in a tuft of hair like a shaving 

 brush. The anus surrounded by a ring of soft hairs, the skin under 

 which is perforated by innumerable small pores secreting an abomi- 

 nably offensive stuff; pressure brings out the stuff liquid, like 

 melted honey. Scrotum round, and naked ; space between it and 

 anus naked, also for a small space towards the groins. Penis 3^ 

 inches long, terminating in the musk bag, which is in this animal 

 globular, a little flattened on the surface towards the ground — 1^ 

 inch in diameter either way, and thickly covered with long hairs ; 

 it is pendent from the belly, not like the Bhotiah musk deer examined 

 last year, in which it was bound up to the abdominal parietes. At 

 the centre of the musk bag is a circular hole, large enough to admit 

 a lead pencil ; its edges are naked and moist. At the posterior 

 margin of this hole is the orifice of the penis. The penis is, in fact, 

 terminated by the musk bag, which might be called correctly the 

 preputial bag. The bag is composed of two distinct membranes, 

 apparently unconnected with one another, except at the margin of 

 the circular external hole. The external membrane is vascular and 

 strong, the internal one is silvery, shining, and not vascular : it 

 resembles the retina of the eye, as it is seen on dissecting the eye 

 from without. The inner membrane which forms the cavity of the 

 bag is lined internally with a few scattered hairs. The musk is soft, 

 of a reddish brown color, and granular: its appearance and con- 

 sistence is precisely that of moist ginger-bread. Around the margin 

 of the hole of the bag is a circle of small glandular-looking bodies, 

 more numerous towards the side of the penis, (the posterior margin.) 

 The flesh of the animal is dark red, and not of musky smell. Bladder 

 very large, 6 inches long, 2£ broad. The liver flat, one lobe only, 

 with a cleft in its margin at the attachment of the central ligament. 

 Length of liver from left to right 6| inches, from anterior to inferior 

 aspect 2>\ inches thick : at its extreme right one inch, at its extreme 

 left half an inch. Gall-bladder oval-shaped, pendulous from right half 

 of liver, three inches long, 2| in diameter. The gall duct penetrates 

 the intestine 2\ inches from the pylorus of last or fourth stomach. 

 Spleen thin, four inches long, 2| broad. Kidneys unilobed, not sul- 



