CIVET AND MUSK 



their darker coat in the spring. Tliis is, however, only an 

 extreme case of a change which is general. Most uuimals get 

 a thicker fur in winter and exchange it for a lisjliter one in 

 summer. And the hues of the coat change in correspondence. 



Glands of the Skin. — The great variety of integumental 

 glands possessed by the ^lammalia distinguishes them from any 

 group of lower Vertebrates. 'I'his variability, however, only con- 

 cerns the anatomical structure of the glands in question. Histo- 

 logically they are all of them ap])arently to be referred to one of 

 two typos, the sudoriparous or sweat gland and the sebaceous 

 gland. Simple sweat and sebaceous glands are abundant in 

 mammals, with but a few exceptions. The structures that we are 

 now concerned with are agglomerations of these glands. The 

 mammary glands wiU be treated of in connexion witli the mar- 

 supium ; they are either masses of sweat glands, or of sebaceous 

 glands whose secretion has been con^'erted into milk. 



Many Carnivora possess glands opening to the exterior, near 

 the anus, by a large orifice. These secrete various odoriferous 

 substances, of which the well-known " civet " is an example. 

 (Other odoriferous glands are the musk glands of the Musk-deer 

 and of the Beaver ; the suborbital gland of many Antelopes ; the 

 dorsal gland of the T*eccnry, which has given the name of 

 Dicdti/Irs to the genus on account of its resemblance in form to 

 a navel. This gland may be seen to secrete a clear watery fluid. 

 The Elephant has a gland situated on the temple, which is said 

 to secrete during certain periods only, and to be a warning to 

 leave the animal alone. Very remarkable are the foot glands of 

 certain species of Ehuwrrros ; they are not universally present 

 in those animals, and are therefore useful as specific distinctions. 

 On the back of the root of the tail in many Dogs are similar 

 glands. The Grentle Lemur {Mupa/emur) has a peculiar gland 

 upon the arm, about the size of an almond, which in the male 

 underlies a patch of spiny outgrowths. In Lemur varitis is a 

 hard patch of black skin which may be the remnants of such 

 a gland. It is thought that the callosities on the legs of Horses 

 and Asses are remnants of glands. 



One of the most complex of these structures which has been 

 examined microscopically exists in the Marsupial Jlfi/r-nifrohivs} 

 On the skin of the anterior part of the chest, just in front of the 



' Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, p, W21 . 



