310 Musks 



and Sir Victor Brooke seemed rather inclined to take the same view. 

 Garrod, also, was strongly against their inclusion in the Cervidte, remarking 

 that " when we consider the genus Moschus in its relations to the other 

 ruminants, it seems to me that to call it a deer is altogether against the 

 tendency of the facts at our disposal." On the other hand, Rutimeyer 

 unhesitatingly classed the genus in the deer family, even going so far as to 

 place it next Hydrelaphus. But Sir William Flower, while also including 

 it in the Cervida, regarded it as a very early and distinct offshoot from the 

 other branch of that family. A somewhat similar relationship to the true 

 deer is presented by the giraffes, and it must be confessed that if the latter 

 are regarded as a distinct family, and not a sub-family of Cervidee, it is a 

 little illogical not to give the same rank to the musks. Still, I am loth to 

 interfere with the system of classification generally adopted in England 

 more than seems necessary. 



XIV. The Musks — Genus Moschus 



Moschus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 91 (1766) ; Flower, Proc. 

 Zoo/. Soc. 1875, p. 159; Garrod, ibid. 1877, p. 287; Riitimeyer, Abh. 

 schweiz. pal. Ges. vol. viii. p. 19 (1881). 



Characters. — Build stout and heavy, with the limbs long and thick, the 

 hinder pair considerably exceeding the front in this respect, and the rump 

 elevated. Hair coarse, thick, brittle, minutely waved, and in structure 

 resembling pith. Ears large. Upper canines greatly developed in the 

 males, and projecting far below the level of the lips, in females much smaller. 

 No tarsal or metatarsal glands or tufts ; lateral metacarpal bones represented 

 by their lower extremities ; main hoofs narrow and pointed, lateral hoofs 

 very large and functional. Tail very short and glandular, in the male 

 terminating in a tuft, in the female evenly haired throughout. The male 

 with a globular gland in the skin of the abdomen secreting the substance 

 known as musk, at least during the breeding-season. Naked portion of 

 muzzle large and completely surrounding the nostrils. 



Among the many structural peculiarities of the genus, not the least 

 remarkable are those connected with the lateral digits of the limbs. In 

 the fore-limbs the joints of these digits are supplied with special tendons 

 from the deep flexor muscle of the leg, so that the lateral hoofs are capable 



