32 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
Table III. — Records of Body Temperature for each Order, 
Order. 
Number 
of 
Observa- 
tions. 
Maxi- 
mum. 
Mini- 
mum. 
Mean. 
Tubinares (petrel) 
1 
o 
• 
39-80 
Steganopodes (gannet, cormorant, shag) 
68 
42-3 
38-9 
40-53 
Family Sulidce (gannet) 
7 
42-3 
40 3 
41-44 
„ Phalacrocoracidce (cormorant, shag) 
61 
41-4 
38-9 
40-07 
Pygopodes (Grebe, guillemots, razorbill) 
39 
42-1 
39'8 
40-60 
Anseres (ducks) ....... 
13 
42-6 
40-4 
41-55 
Longipennes (gulls, kittiwake) .... 
28 
42*4 
39-9 
41-59 
Table IV. — Records showing Sex Differences in the Body Temperature. 
Species. 
Individuals. 
Mean Rectal Temperature. 
Males. 
Females. 
Male. 
F emale. 
Shag 
7 
12 
40°"4 C. 
40*44 C. 
Common guillemot . 
2 
3 
40-15 
40-25 
Black „ ... 
6 
7 
40-62 
40-91 
Razorbill 
1 
1 
39-9 
41-1 
Ducks (several species) 
9 
4 
41-52 
41-82 
IV. Results and Conclusions. 
Influence of Sex . — With regard to the body temperature in the two 
sexes, there is in every species examined a difference in favour of the 
female, — sometimes very slight, but still a difference. In order to make a 
general statement in this relation, however, a greater number of individuals, 
and these under similar conditions with regard to environment, hour of day, 
etc., would require to be inspected. 
Of former observers who have considered the question of sex in relation 
to body temperature, most find that in the female it is higher than in the 
male, but that the variations from the mean are greater in the female. In 
the human subject very little difference is believed to exist, but where a 
sufficient number of observations have been made it is stated that the 
temperature of the woman is the higher. On the authority of John Davy * 
a statement to the contrary is often made in the text-books. Davy found 
that the advantage lay with the male sex (human subject), but he only 
examined six individuals (three women and three men) — a number totally 
insufficient to enable him to arrive at such a general conclusion. 
* John Davy, Med. Times and Gaz., London, vol. ii., 1864, p. 337. 
