FALLOW DEER. 41 
This curious formation of the head may be of singular service 
Fallow Deer. 
to beasts of chase, by affording them free respiration : and no 
doubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are 
hard run.* Mr. Ray observed that, at Malta, the owners slit 
* In answer to this account, Mr. Pennant sent me the following curious and pertinent reply. 
" I was much surprised to find in the antelope something analogous to what you mention as so 
remarkable in deer. This animal also has a long slit beneath each eye, which can be opened and 
shut at pleasure. On holding an orange to one, the creature made as much use of those orifices 
as of his nostrils, applying them to the fruit, and seeming to smell it through them.^'— Note. Both 
White, however, and his friend Pennant were here misled by appearances, for it turns out, upon 
anatomical investigation, that there is no communication between these cavities and the nostrils, 
they being rather the site of a peculiar secretion. See a paper «' On the infra-orbital cavities in 
Deer and Antelopes," by Dr. Jacob, read before the British Association in Dublm, in 1835, and 
published in the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal" for October, in that year, from which I 
quote the following A statement respecting these infra-orbital cavities has been made by the 
Rev. Gilbert White, m his 'Natural History of Selborne,' which might appear to originate in 
some error, were it not supported by the more recent testimony of Major Hamilton Smith. These 
gentlemen state that, when the deer drinks, the air is forced out through these ;cavities, and, 
according to Major Hamilton Smith, may be felt by the hand, and aff-ects the flame of a candle 
when held to it. Notwithstanding such a positive statement by two observers of established 
character for faithful description, the passage of air through these cavities cannot take place, 
they are perfectly impervious towards the nostril ; but I have no doubt that the fact stated is 
correct, the air which escapes passing, not through the infra-orbital sacs, but through the lachry- 
mal passages, which are very large, consisting of two openings capable of admitting the end of 
a crow's quill, the entrance to a tortuous canal, which conducts the tears to the extremity of the 
nose. Introducing a pipe into the outlet of the nasal duct, at the extremity of the nose, I can 
without difficulty force a current of air or water through the nasal duct [Quere, lachrymal 
sinus ?— Ed.] ; and it therefore appears reasonable to admit that the efi^ect, observed by the two 
gentlemen alluded to, arose from the animal forcing the air into the nostrils while the nose and 
mouth were immersed in water." — Ed. 
