684 J'HE DESCENT OF MAN 



with the odor of the male Cervus campestris, at half a mile 

 to leeward of a herd; and a' silk handkerchief , ia which I 

 carried home a skin, though often used and washed, re- 

 tained, when first unfolded, traces of the odor for one year 

 and seven months. This animal does not emit its strong 

 odor until more than a year old, and if castrated while 

 young never emits it." Besides the general odor, per- 

 meating the whole body of certain ruminants (for instance, 

 Sos moschaius) in the breeding season, many deer, ante- 

 lopes, sheep, and goats possess odoriferous glands in vari- 

 ous situations, more especially on their faces. The so-called 

 tear-sacs, or suborbital pits, come under this head. These 

 glands secrete a semifluid fetid matter which is sometimes so 

 copious as to stain the whole face, as I have myself seen in 

 an antelope. They are "usually larger in the male than 

 in the female, and their development is checked by castra- 

 tion." " According to Desmarest they are altogether ab- 

 sent in the female of Antilope suhgutturosa. Hence, there 

 can be no doubt that they stand in close relation with the 

 reproductive functions. They are also sometimes present, 

 and sometimes absent, in nearly allied forms. In the adult 

 male musk-deer [Moschus moschiferus) a naked space round 

 the tail is bedewed with an odoriferous fluid, while in the 

 adult female, and in the male until two years old, this space 

 is covered with hair and is not odoriferous. The proper 

 musk-sac of this deer is from its position necessarily con- 

 fined to the male, and forms an additional scent-organ. It 

 is a singular fact that the matter secreted by this latter gland 

 does not, according to Pallas, change in consistence, or in- 

 crease in quantity, during the rutting season; nevertheless, 

 this naturalist admits that its presence is in some way con- 

 nected with the act of reproduction. He gives, however, 



'» Rengger, "Haturgesohichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay," 1830, s. 355. 

 This observer also gives some curious particulars in regard to the odor. 



" Owen, "Anatomy of Tertebrates, " vol. iii. p. 632. See, also. Dr. Murle's 

 observations on these glands in the "Proo. Zoolog. Soc," 1870, p. 340. Des- 

 marest, on the Antilope suhgutturosa, "Mammalogie, " 1820, p. 455. 



