280 
SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. 
Part II. 
trated whilst young never emits Besides the general 
odour, with which the whole body of certain ruminants 
seems to be permeated during the breeding-season, many 
deer, antelopes, sheep, and goats, possess odoriferous 
glands in various situations, more especially on their 
faces. The so-called tear-sacks or suborbital pits come 
under this head. These glands secrete a semi-fluid 
fetid matter, which is sometimes so copious as to stain 
the whole face, as I have seen in the case of an ante- 
lope. They are usually larger in the male than in 
the female, and their development is checked by cas- 
tration.”^^ According to Desmarest they are alto- 
gether absent in the female of Ardilojpe subgutturosa. 
Hence, there can be no doubt that they stand in some 
close relation with the reproductive functions. They 
are also sometimes present, and sometimes absent, in 
nearly-allied forms. In the adult male musk-deer 
{Moschus moschiferus), a naked space round the tail 
is bedewed with an odoriferous fluid, whilst in the 
adult female, and in the male, until two years old, this^ 
space is covered with hair and is not odoriferous. The 
proper musk-sack, from its position, is necessarily con- 
fined to the male, and forms an additional scent-organ. 
It is a singular fact that the matter secreted by thi& 
latter gland does not, according to Pallas, change in 
consistence, or increase in quantity, during the rutting- 
season ; nevertheless this naturalist admits that its pre- 
sence is in some way connected with tlie act of repro- 
Kengger, ‘ Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay,’ 1830^ 
s. 355. This observer also gives some curious particulars in regard to 
the odour emitted. 
Owen, ‘ Anatomy of Vertebrates,’ vol. iii. p. 632. See, also, Di\ 
Murie’s observations on their glands in ‘Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1870, 
p. 340. Desmarest, On the Antilope subgutturosa, ‘ Mammalogie,’ 1820,. 
p. 455. 
