418 APPENDIX. 
young buck Caribou measured 74 inches, of the old doe 7} inches, and of the 
old buck 9 inches. The gentleman already referred to informed him that the 
Wapiti is a natural trotter, 1 “he, however, can and does run much faster than 
he can trot, but itis a labored effort and soon tires him out.” ‘‘ His run is 
an awkward, lumbering, rolling gallop. A few hundred yards of this gait tells. 
It is said that an elk will trot at an equal speed without stopping or even flag- 
ging, for twenty miles.” The Virginia deer has a tube in each foot fully de- 
veloped, which led him to inquire the gait of this animal, his impression that 
it would prove to be a running deer being confirmed. The inference he 
wished to draw was this, that the number of tubes in the feet of the different 
species of deer will point out the gait of the animal, those which have a tube 
fully developed in each foot should be bounders or runners, while those want- 
ing the tubes, or having them partially developed in the fore and fully in the 
hind feet should be trotters. This paint, as far as he was aware, had never 
been touched upon by any naturalist, and as it could not be pursued here, he 
mentioned it in the hope that it may be examined into by those who have 
access to a number of different species of deer. 
Returning to the tubes, Mr. Morrow stated that as his notes upon them were 
only those of a hunter and therefore of very little scientific value, he would 
use those of Dr. Sommers, as follows : — 
In the observations here annexed I have endeavored to furnish an accurate 
description of the so-called “ interdigital glands,’’ which exist in the feet of 
the Caribou, by subjecting them to very careful anatomical and microscopical 
inspection. The conclusion at which I arrive relative to their structure and 
functions is that they are not glandular in the correct meaning of that term, an 
opinion which coincides with that which you previously expressed. 
This organ presents the appearance of a fleshy tube with thick walls and a 
rounded blind extremity like that of a small test tube flattened on its posterior 
or under side, convex on its upper or anterior side; that from the young buck 
being about one and a half inches in length below, somewhat shorter above ; 
its circumference about three quarters of an inch; it tapers slightly towards its 
termination; when viewed in position it bears a striking resemblance to the 
human ‘“uvula.’’? The surface exposed by dissection exhibits a structure 
consisting of rounded or slightly polygonal spaces resembling very large cells; 
these are convex, of a deep red color, and united by paler interspaces. The 
whole organ has the appearance of a body constituted of immense cells united 
by their thin cell walls; this, however, is deceptive, these spaces are the rounded 
terminations or bases of the bulbs or follicles from which the hairs inside of 
the sac grow; the resemblance to cellular interspaces arises from the pressure 
of a very delicate layer of true skin upon which they rest, and which has been 
pushed into these interspaces by the growth of the hair follicles; the same 
structure can be observed in other parts of the skin by dissecting off the true 
skin which is underneath from the epithelial layer which covers it and gives 
origin to the hairs; but here the spaces observed are much smaller, since the 
hairs and their bulbs are more crowded, the space occupied by each bulb being 
less than in the cul-de-sac, or organ under notice. 
The organ in the fore, differs from that in the hind feet by being very shal- 
low, measuring not over a quarter of an inch in depth; when dissected from 
the surrounding tissue, it presents all the characteristics of the organ in the 
1 Plains of the Great West, by Col. Dodge, pages 164 and 166. 
