FOREST ANP STREAM. 



319 



the obstructions which prevent the free passaged fish on 

 said rivers on account of any claim to the ownership of the 



bed, ci- chftnne] of mid rivers', and it, [or any cause, th 



eannot be purchased from the owner at arcasonai. 



the County Commissioners of the comity wherein said 



owner's laud is situated shall condemn the same. 



htturnl Widow f 



NOTES ON THE CARIBOU. 



Abstract o* a Papec Head Br.r. pbi I -m n. (n 



tfAXCUAIi SotKNOB, II.iM faj, >'. 3, 



i:v li. '.Mi' 



MR. AlbRRpW said'thal bt prighi to tlie 



following quotation rroniSirJoIin Richardson's "Fauna 



.ii Americana," pages 250 audial. Mr. Hjitchiite mentions 

 " that l ho buck caribou j has a peculiar bag or cyst in the lower 

 pari of the neek about the bigness of a crown piece, and fillet! 

 With line flaxcu hair neatly curled round to the thick ni . o : 

 inch. There is an opening through the skin near the head 

 leading to the cyst, but Mr. Hmehins does not offer a conjec- 

 ture as to its uses on Ihe economy of (lie animal. CMuper 

 found a membranous cyst on the reindeer above the thyroid 

 Cartilage, and opening into the larynx, but I have met with no 

 account of a cist with a duel opening externally like that de- 

 scribed by Mr. Hmehins, and, unfortunately, I was not aware 

 of his remarks until the means of ascertaining whether such u 

 Site exists in tlie barren ground caribou were within my 

 reach." 



Mr. Morrow had several times looked for (he cyst, without 

 success, but always forgOl to do so tor the sac. and in order to 

 obt lin some in : l ch points, he went to the woods iu 



I>ecember last n 1 50 a led in killing, a large buck, the result 

 of the examination of which and dissection ul ■' a al n ■! 



female, made since, he would place before the Institute. But 

 first he thought if necessary to give Camper's' description of 

 the membranous sac from a reindeer ''four years old." 

 Camper says* " that as lie did not know the reindeer and as 

 the imperfect account. Which Valeutyu gave of Stenon's dissec 

 lion in 1072 did not give him much light, he was forced to 

 proceed with caution (date June 17?lj. He had often ob- 

 :.l on the bucks that when this animal swallowed all the 

 larynx rose and fell in a peculiar manner, and seemed to indi- 

 i.-it'e something singular iu this parr. He theu removed the 

 skin of the neck with much care. The muscles being raised 

 in the same way he found a membranous sae which had its 

 origin between 'the os hyoides and the thyroid cartilage. He 

 then discovered two muscles winch take their origin from the 

 lower pari, of i he os hyoides, exactly where the base of Ihe 

 OS gi'aniform and the oonitia meet. These muscles were tint 



and thin at their beginning, bul widened towards their junc- 

 tion willi the sac, and certainly s n e 

 to expel the air from it at the Will i 

 opened the (esophagus from behind I 

 the epiglottis a lanrc orifice which ad 

 ly. Tins ori bee spread and formed u 



I bet ween the i wo muscles already mentioned, terminat- 

 ing in the membranous sac. Consequently the air drawn from 

 the lungs info the larynx full into this", sae and necessarily 

 caused a considerable swelling." 



idh 



il. Afte 

 inderthc 



-i ■_■ ■ - 



• he had 



base of 



Mr. .Morrow gaic 



that wdi 





shot th 



bad oi 1 seen the* 









men isnot therefor 







(night 



Examining the oul 







it of th 



Mr. Uutehins will 



"an o[i 





througl 



exist, but immedi 







i skm 



sub-trian-oil ,r ByB | 



or valve 





nla) on 



hess if i en 



ileee." a 



id on 



cutting 



membrane this '■ v 



live" is 



ound 



to be a 



peculiar lining mei 



limine, a 



i.lclos 



ely pad 



• buck alluded fr 



ithcrwise.ua-'.. b. 



animal, the 



ho 



called loose hairs ol a flaxen color i 



sebaocous matter; at the same time, however, the hi 



inane is covered by hair of the same quality growing 1 

 rather lightly attached to it, tamper in his account 

 scribed this valve as if it were Ihe sae, and his drawii 

 only the valve, which the larynx., exhibited by Mr. 

 plainly shows. The muscles which Camper describes 

 necting the sac with the os hyoides in Mr, Mom >w*s - 

 do not exist, but their representatives arc probably I lie 

 found in the larynx of the yoimg buck by Dr. Somer 



cyst of 

 '' does not 

 was a. roundish 

 me or the " big- 

 uskthe cellular 

 erl sac hav 

 ithwhatn 

 ihl 



iay b 

 Btyo 



later 

 muscle 

 The va 

 outside 

 walls ; 

 to the 1 

 the has 

 fend ( 



Tin 



ner wall 

 extendi! 

 e thyroid 

 not from the 



valve is connected 



I towards their insertion 

 mper has evidently taki 

 us sac, but is in.-. «pa tterl 



h the 



to be the 



,ohyoi 

 idbOi 



lies 



.if the true s 

 ig longitudinal 

 curtilage, llo 

 aperfeel state 



.Kb its ante 



ids and is attached 

 f from the hyoid bone to 

 'much further it may cx- 

 of the specimen already 

 would 



mentioned be determined, and at present the v, 

 only call if an organ of voice. The slit or orifice exists as 

 Camper describes, but opens into the laryngical sac which lies 

 above the valve that- is next, the larynx. The dimensions of 

 this larynx areas follows: 



Length of larynx, from base of epiglottis to base of thyroid 

 cartilage. 6 indies; circumference of larynx, 11 inches; inside 

 diameter of larynx. 2 Inches. 



May it not lie possible that Camper was in enoi as io th,. 

 age of the animal he dissected ; the muscles described by him 

 taken in connection with those found in the young buck "make 

 this very probnble. 



Mr. Morrow said that be had made every exertion to obtain 

 a more perfect specimen of the larynx I'rotu an old buck, but 

 without success. A small buck 8 months old was sent to him 

 and dissected by Dr. Somers, Dr. Gilpin and liimself on Ihe 

 37tb of January ; and a female e.iif fl months old and an adult 

 doe were put at Ms disposal hv Mr. .1. .1. Kgan, and dissected 

 February Hub. Mr. Morrow grees on aca nil i the dissect ton 

 of these three animals, i akeii from the notes ol Dr.Sonimers,with 

 reference to the larynx. ver\ much abridged. itwaSfl I illowi 



In the ,\'oimg I'tiek the organ existed asjdeserilu.-d a thi Ltli 

 animal, but hj an iimnalure state, il would probably he devel- 

 oped wilh the grou th of Ihe animal. The muscles were not 

 found as in the adult animal : but, iirisimr apparently from the 



base of the epiglottis on oithet ■'■ i ilj ■ on ■ u i h 



the thyi'O-epigroliideanaiid aryleni'-ipigloii iu | . . i 



l.l, chap. VL, i - . i)S, 



■t '-. M,... . i, iy)i 'i c o H . |wrt 



two bKuds of muscular fibres piissim: over on eithei side of a 

 body which probably would develop and form tlie valve in the 

 adult, and ate eoimc'cicd with it by QbrOUS adhesions ; extend- 

 ing forwards they tinile at its upper border forming a single 

 muscular band which becomes inserted into the upper and 

 inner edge of the hyoid bone, 'these fibres have no analogues 

 in moil, l/ndoribe niisoroseope the structure forming this 

 body (which, was about the size of a small horse-bean j was 

 found to consist mostly of fatty tissue with n moderate pro- 



rti ai'.inulur cells. This body which would form the 



■ ■'■ ■ ■■■ i t ■■ he doe and wry: adin ato yin thefemalc 



Cil .it. I ainper pointed out that Ihe female reindeer is without 

 this organ on the larynx, and also that il is not present on the 

 male fallow deer, and from a specimen exhibited il was seen 



i .'..:- a. I ... ii.o Virginia deer. 



fj of die hock of the caribou there is a patch of hair of 

 !igh id somewhat longer than that which, covers 



the skin in its immediate neighborhood and Ihe skin under this 

 uightlj thicker than that . immediately around it. This 

 spot is usually called a "gland;" il iscauscdhy an enlargement of 

 i ol tides, has a very strong smell, and' in the caribou is a 

 scenl •■gland. ' The niat.1 er pn idueing this scent is entirely differ- 

 ent ftom that contained in the tubes; if appears to be a high- 

 ly volatile oil and resists suit, for a long lime after the rest of 

 the skin has become saturated; when dry it collects on the 

 outside of tlie skin in the form of very small scales, Such as 

 would be left by minute portions of varnish. Although Mr. 

 Morrow did not see the animal use the so-called "gland,'' yet 

 his Indian hunter saw a doe caribou use it in this way: 

 When she had voided her urine (she squats in doing SO al- 

 most exactly Uke K sheep) and as soon as she bad finished, she 

 rttbbed these glands together, leaving the scent, behind her 

 for a short distance. When creeping moose or caribou, 

 this scent, floating in the air, had often been xvith Mm a subl 

 ject, of inquiry, and he had very little doubt but that this was 

 at least one way in which these "glands" are used, and iu 

 confirmation he mentioned that the dogs at one time openly 

 used for hunting moose did not often take the scent of that 

 animal from the snow, but by standing upon their hind legs 

 as if if had been rubbed from glands as described. The point 

 was merely mentioned in the h.pe tin it some gentlemen pre- 

 sent would be able to throw some light upon it, or keep it in 

 mind when an opportunity offered for observation, confirma- 

 tory or otherwise. 



A little further down the leg, on the outside, at the hair 

 parting, ho showed the "metatarsal gland," which had been 

 looked for during a long period by Dr. Gilpin, Mr. J. J. 

 Egftn and himself, ou answer to an inquiry from the lion. 

 Judge I I I ■:.. This Was the first they had ever seen, aud may 

 probably be taken as a mark of adult age ; it was afterwards 

 found on the old doe, but not so perfectly marked, possibly 

 because the doe was killed in February, the buck in Decem- 

 ber. 



Attention was also drawn to the tubes in the feet of the 

 caribou, which first attracted the notice of Dr. Gilpin, from 

 inquiries made by Judge Caton. Dr. Gilpin as well as others 

 thought that they were only to be found in the hind feet, and 

 the discovery of them on the fore feet of the caribou is due 

 entirely to 1 >r. Bommers. 



Camper says, speaking of these tubes: "In addition to 

 the peculiarities of the reindeer, of which I have just spoken, 

 1 have discovered besides something very singular on the hind 

 feet of this animal— that is to say-, a deep sheath between the 

 skin at the place where the dew claws are united together, of 

 the size of the barrel of a quill, running deeply as far as I be 

 point where the dew claws are articulated with the bone of 

 the metatarsus. These sheaths were Idled internally- with 

 long hairs, and a yellow oleaginous mutter proceeded from 

 them, the odor of which was not very agreeable. I have not 

 found these sheaths in the fore feet. It was not possible for 

 me to discover the use of them, iuasmueh as the heat of the 

 summer obliged me to remove the flesh from the skeleton." 

 And further on he says that iu another reindeer he found no 

 tube on the hind foot, but one very apparent on the fore foot. 

 And again, he found tubes on the "hind feet, but none on the 

 fore, "so that I am not able to determine anything veiy ex- 

 act! v on this subject." 



In the skin of one of the hind legs of the old buck, the 

 bones of which had been removed for the purpose, the tube 

 was shown (the tube of the other foot had been used in ex- 

 periments), and also a number of other specimens of tube from 

 the, caribou one from the Virginia deer, and a hind foot, of the 

 moose containing a tube. In the skin of the fore feet of old 

 buck caribou, also exhibited, there was no appearance of the 

 tubes— they had been absorbed. By many, Mr. Morrow 

 said, these "tubes were considered to be" scent "giands." Cam- 

 per evidently did not think them so. although he mentions 

 that the skin of the hind as well as the forefeet "were sprinkled 



in in* I to protect the I f against the snow." Prior to De- 



ecaiiiti lost, Mr. Morrow said tha' he had paid very little at- 

 tention tO these lulies, and had the question been asked him, 

 SCunt glands, Ihe. answer would have been allirma- 

 tive, but. after a careful examination of the animal while warm 

 he had come to the conclusion that these tubes are not glands 

 properly so called. His first view, that the lubes were for the 

 purpose of si rene't hening the bones of Ihe feel of this animal 

 in its spring, from further examination Of a number of 

 fresh tubes, and from the observations of Dr. Sommers, does 

 not appear to be tenable, and for his own part, he had to adopt 



ii pei statement, and coidd not sav what was their use. 

 but I hey are not scent glands ; if they were, il seemed scarce- 

 ly probable that as the buck comes to maturity, he would be 

 deprived of Ihe means of leaving see,,! from his forefeet al the 

 time when he most required it, wit html taking into considera- 

 tion flic fact that l|ic tube only exists in the fore led, of the 

 male (up DO an unknown age), or in the female in a rudiment- 

 ary state. 



The waxy matter is contained in the tubes of thehind feet of 

 the caribou, and in all the tubes on Ihe feel of the Virginia 

 deer, owing to their shape. The tubes of the caribou are ra- 

 Iher wider in Ihe mouth, and of more equal diameter to their 

 tower end than that of the Virginia deer, which, at their open- 

 ing, an! somewhat narrow aBd wider toward their centre. 

 The moose, which, contrary to preconceived ideas (and this 

 shows iio-A little our animals are studied), also has tubes on its 

 feet, fully developed in the hind, rndimontary in the fore 

 Fool '. ; Uf. a very different shape from those of Ihe caribou 

 and Virginia deer, being in the hind feet, very wide at the 

 mouth and gradually tapering toward their lower extremities : 

 those, from their shape, can retain but little, if any, waxy 

 matter. 



Iu <j;cut ral terms. I be buck caribou, when young, has the lubes 

 in ih" ion feet iua rudimentary form, which, instead of passing 

 upward .and. backward In ihe skin close jo ihe (few claws, as in 

 Hie. developed lube of the bind feet, lie between and nearlv 

 paralli I iriVl! Chi I oi (tlW : "' j ■"" l tbejare gradually 



absorbed until, certainly in Ihe adult male, they entirely ois.,,.- 

 pcar. The doe has them also perfectly developediu the hind, 

 and rudimentary in Ihe lore feci, and it is a question which is 

 vet tube decided, whether these lubes ever entirely fade out 

 of Ihe feet otl.be does. In the old doe. lie tobeSj although 

 small, are slill plainly to be seen. A young moose in pi 

 sion of Mr. .1. )V. Stairs, has the lubes in all its feel; those in 

 the hind feet are perfectly developed, and pass as in the cari- 

 bou, between the phalanges. On the forefeet, they are as in 

 Ihe caribou of the same age, only rudimentary, but at what 



I life they disappear in this animal, or whether in male 



or female. Of both, cannot, owing to our prohibitory law, at 

 present he decided. 



Mr. Morrow said that it h id been shown that the caribou 

 aud moose have the tubes developed in the hind, and rudi- 

 mentary in the foiv feel. An examination of a wapili or elk 

 (Gaftrusw/naderws), [Plains of the (beat West -by Col. K, T. 

 Dodge, page 164 and 166.] skin with feet attached in Mr. 

 Egan's collection, presented the fact [Confirmed by Judge Ca- 

 ton). thai Ihisaniinal has no lube in auy Toot, and that its 

 feet arc of a different shape from those of the moose, caribou 

 irginia deer, and that the phalanges are very much short- 

 i r in proportion to the size of the animal iu the specimen refer- 

 red to than iu the caribou or Virginia, deer. From the meta- 

 carpophalangial articulation to the point or the hoof they 

 measure seven inches, while those of the young buck caribou 

 measured seven and a quarter inches, Of the olddoe seven and 

 a half inches, and of the old buck nine inches. The gentle- 

 man already referred to informed him that the wapiti is a, 

 natural trotter, "he, however, can and does run much faster than 

 he can trot, but it is 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 nagging, for 

 twenty miles.'' The Virginia deer has a tube in each foot, 

 fully developed, 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 oul the gait of the animal. Those 

 which have a tube fully developed on eaeh foot should be 

 bounders or runncrs.while those wanting the tubes or having 

 them partially developed on the fore, and fully in the hind 

 feet should be trotters. This point, as far as he was aware, 

 had never been touched upon by any naturalist, and as it 

 coiddnot 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, aud 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 iu the feet of the caribou, by subjecting 

 then: to very careful anatomical and microscopical inspection. 

 The conclusion at which 1 arrive relative to their structure and 

 functions is that they are nut glandular in the correct mean- 

 ing 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 lube flattened on its posterior or under side, convex on 

 its upper or anterior side, about one and a half inches in 

 length below, somewhat shorter above, its circumference being 

 about three-quarters of an inch. In the young buck it 

 tapirs slightly towards its termination. When viewed in 

 position if bears a slrikingresemblauce to the human "mold." 

 The surface exposed by dissection exhibits a structure consist- 

 ing 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 vny 

 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 ou other 

 parts of the skin bypssectiDg <>ff the. true skin, which is un- 

 derneath, from the epithelial layer which covers it, and gives 

 origin to the hairs: but here the spaces observed are much 

 smaller since the hairs aud Iheir 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 hindfeet by 

 being very shallow-, 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 hind feet, 

 yet it differs iu position relative to the phalangial bones, 

 lying on the same plane as that of the anterior wall of the 

 Web, its own anterior well being incorporated with the under 

 surface of the skin-bone, thereby shortened to about one quar- 

 ter of an inch in length. The posterior wall, however, remains 

 distinct, and measures from the blind extremity of its termi- 

 nation somewhat over an inch. 



The microscopic examination of this organ proved it to be 

 of epidermic origin. Sections through the thickness of its 

 wails showed an external layer of flattened prismoidal cells 

 with small nuclei, a deeper o"r internal layer in which the cells 

 Were more rounded and filled with protoplasm (this differ- 

 ence on the Uppermost and lowermost, layer was brought out 

 by the staining process), and it is in these only that we find 

 the line of demarcation, flic intervening layers merging grad- 

 ually one into the other. Other structures" observed were the 

 hairs and hair follicles, with their accompanying tissues and 

 some fibres, representing no doubt the true skin,vvhich is not 

 developed in llfs 1 a'.:i:i« b> any considerable extent. The 

 two layers of celts correspond to the same parts in man, 

 namely, a horny layer external, but of course internal ou the 

 .•til-,/, -,vir ; a mucous layer external when the sac is dissected 

 from its surroundings. The changed position of these layers is 

 owing to the circumstance of the sac being an innovation of 

 the epidermic layer into the true skin. Regarding the func- 

 tions of this structure, various and contradictory opinions are 

 expressed, that of its being glandular being most prevalent. 

 Attain, il is said to have no existence in the wapiti and moose, 

 and in the fore-feet of the adult caribou. The fact of its ex- 

 istence in lore and hind feet of Ihe Virginia deer being well 

 understood, its presence in this animal Is said to be for the 

 purpose of leaving a trace or scent on the ground, and in this 

 way serving the union of the sexes at certain seasons ; but if 

 this is the case, we may ask why should it, not exist in the 

 wapiti and be fully developed in the caribou and moose. since 

 it must be obvious to us that I be fulfilment of the conditions 

 whifch obtain in the Virginia deer are required also in the 



