ON THE INFRAORBITAL CAVITIES IN DEERS, &C. 209 
in the Mammalia, glands are found opening on the surface of the 
skin and pouring out peculiar fluids sometimes altogether un¬ 
connected with any organ. Such are the glands on the side of 
the head between the eye and ear of the elephant; those de¬ 
scribed by Tiedemann between the eye and nose in certain bats, 
consisting of a sac with a folded lining membrane, affording a 
foetid oily secretion, and beneath the eye in the marmot and 
two-toed anteater; such also are the glands on the side of the 
chest of the shrew, described by St. Hilaire, and the inguinal 
glands of hares. Still more remarkable examples are furnised 
by the pouches affording the valuable odoriferous materials 
in the musk, beaver, and civet, and if additional examples be 
required they are found in the otter, mole, hyena, ichneumon, 
badger, and the dorsal gland in the peccary. That the cavities 
alluded to in the deers and antelopes afford peculiar and often 
odoriferous secretions, is established on the authority of several 
naturalists. Buffon describes the contents in the stag as resem¬ 
bling ear-wax. Daubenton found the secretion in an old stag 
so much indurated as to constitute a solid mass, or bezoar as 
he calls it, eleven lines long, seven broad, and six thick. Cam¬ 
per found pretty large hard yellowish particles in the fallow- 
deer. In a species of antelope first described by Dr. Herman 
Grimm, this organ secretes a fluid of such peculiar and distinct 
character that no doubt can be entertained of its nature. He 
describes it to be a yellowish fatty and viscous humour, having 
an odour between musk and castor; Vosmaer says that it har¬ 
dens and becomes black in time, and that the animal rubs it off 
on the rails of its cage, but he could not detect the musky odour; 
Pallas, who describes the Antilojie Grimmea particularly, con¬ 
curs in these observations. 
It may be objected to the conclusion that these are organs for 
the production of an odoriferous secretion, that the sac exhibits 
so little of glandular character that it appears inadequate for 
the purpose, especially when several of the external openings 
alluded to, as that on the head of the elephant and the back of 
the peccary, are merely the outlets of considerable glands ; but, 
on the other hand, many organs of this character are mere sacs, 
as that on the face of the bats, the bottom of which presents a 
peculiar folded appearance, and the cavities in the musk and 
beaver, which afford the odoriferous secretion in such large 
quantity. 
A statement respecting these infraorbital cavities has been 
made by the Rev. Gilbert White in his Natural History of Sel- 
hurne which might appear to originate in some error, were it not 
supported by the more recent testimony of Major Hamilton 
1835. p 
