Z O O L O G Y, 
843 
tribe, and which has made the polecat proverbial even in 
common language, and has bestowed on it its scientific name, 
mustela putorius. Some American species exceed the fetor 
even of the polecat. This is the case with the viverra me- 
phitica and coasse (the skunk and squash). They pour 
out the fetid matter when pursued; and are thereby effectu¬ 
ally defended, as neither man nor animal can approach them. 
Several rodentia also possess them. 
6th. Another kind of similar glands and bags secrete strong 
scented matters, but are rather connected with the genitals. 
These are found in some of the same carnivorous animals 
which possess the anal glands, as the lion, the civet, &c.; 
also in many herbivora, which want the latter organs; in 
some of whom they exist in both sexes, as in the beaver, the 
ondatra, (mus zibethicus) &c.; in others they are peculiar to 
the male, as in the musk animal, whose pouch is found in 
the prepuce near the navel. 
7th. The glands which secrete the oil, on the upper part 
of the tail, in aquatic birds. 
8th. Anal glands, which disseminate a strong specific odour 
at certain times, are found in some animals of the class am¬ 
phibia ; for instance, in the cayman, (lacerta alligator) and 
the rattle-snake. 
9th. An acrid fluid exudes through numerous pores of the 
skin in some reptiles w'hen they are irritated ; as in the sa¬ 
lamander and in toads. It is said that the gecko secretes a 
really venomous fluid between its toes. 
10th. The mucus which besmears their skin and scales in 
fishes, and vrhich is formed in canals lying near the lateral 
lines, and in the same direction with them ; one or more of 
these canals running on each side from the head to the tail-fin. 
In some fishes the mucus is poured out in the intervals of the 
scales; but in others those parts are perforated by regular 
openings for its discharge. 
11th. Besides the different secretions of peculiar matters 
which belong exclusively to single species of insects, as the 
vapour, which some carabi (carabus crepitans, marginatus, 
&c.) discharge, the strong odours with which several of the 
bug-kind defend themselves in case of necessity, and the 
wax of honey bees. Two kinds of secreted fluid deserve 
to be particularly remarked in this class: the silk which is 
formed by the larvae of phalenae (moths) and by spiders ; and 
the poison with which several hymenopterous and apterous 
insects are armed. 
12th. The formation of the calcareous matter of the shells 
of testacea, which takes place in a peculiar viscus lying near 
the heart (sacculus calcarius, Swammerd. See fig. 4). 
13th. Several acephalous mollusca produce a kind of silk, 
similar to that of the larvae of insects. It is sometimes called 
the beard ; and is employed by the animal in order to attach 
itself to rocks, &e. It is formed by a conglomerate gland, 
placed near the foot, which latter part draws out the silk 
from the excretory duct, and moulds it in a groove on its 
surface. The sea-muscle, (mytilus) the pinna, and perna, 
exemplify this structure. The pinna produces it in such 
quantify, and of such quality, as to admit of its being ma¬ 
nufactured into gloves, which is done at Messina and Paler¬ 
mo. 
14th. The black inky fluid of the cuttle-fish, which has often 
been supposed to be the bile, is a very singular secretion, 
that must be noticed in this place. The bag in which it is 
contained has a fine callous internal surface, and its excretory 
duct opens near the anus. The fluid itself is thick, but mis¬ 
cible with water to such a degree, that a very small quantity 
will colour avast bulk of water; and the animal employs it in 
this way to elude the pursuit of its enemies. Cuvier says, 
the Indian ink, which comes from China, ismade of this 
fluid. 
We now proceed to an account of the organs by which 
the species is reproduced. 
The lowest animals seem to recur even below plants, in 
the simplicity of the powers they require for generation. In 
the article Botany, we have shewn that by far the greater 
number of plants are produced by a very complicated kind 
of generation ; that, commonly, the union of two sexes is 
required; or that where one individual procreates, it is not 
without possessing distinct male and female organs. But 
some zoophy tes continual ly secrete new beings as they enlarge; 
which, when detached, are, from that instant, almost perfect 
forms. It is true, plants may be propagated from cuttings, 
but the slow evolution of these will not bear any comparison 
with the almost immediate indication of the powers of life, 
that a section of the polype displays. See Hydra. 
In the genera of acephalous mollusca, ostrica mustilus, &c., 
as well as in the echinus and asterias, no other parts of ge¬ 
neration are visible, except an ovarium, varying in form and 
colour. 
Most of the gasteropodous mollusca are true hermaphro¬ 
dites, and have the male and female organs of generation 
united in the same individual; but they copulate so that 
each fecundates and is fecundated. The common slug (limax) 
and snail (helix) afford the most familiar examples of this 
structure. They possess an ovarium, oviduct, testis, vas de¬ 
ferens, and penis. The oviduct and vas deferens open into a 
cavity situated under the right superior horn ; and the penis 
is contained in the same cavity. The latter part enters the 
oviduct of the other animal, at the time of copulation. 
The snail has, in addition to these organs, a very singular 
one, the use of which is quite obscure. It consists of a 
cavity with an eminence at bottom, from which a sharp 
pointed, thin, calcareous body proceeds. This can be thrust 
forth from the cavity, and is employed by the snails to prick 
each other before the act of copulation. 
The saepia has, in the female, a very simple genital appa¬ 
ratus. There are two ovaries and a tube leading from them 
to the anus. 
The part which corresponds to the soft roe of bony fishes, 
contains at the spawning season, several hundred small tubu¬ 
lar seminal receptacles, (about four lines in length); these 
are placed in bundles towards the vas deferens, and are con¬ 
tained in a thick fluid. These tubes are expelled from the 
body in an entire state, when a spiral vessel, which they 
contain, together with the semen, as in a sheath, bursts their 
thin anterior extremity, from which the semen escapes and 
impregnates the spawn of the female. 
The generative system in the male bee is extremely sin¬ 
gular. The penis is erected in the following manner: 
—this organ is, in its quiescent state, merely a thin col¬ 
lapsed membrane, but by the action of the abdominal mus¬ 
cles the animal can force the air into it, so as to turn it in¬ 
side out, and distend it to a considerable size. The bee has . 
vesiculse seminales, of enormous size, testes, and vasa deferentia, 
which form dilatations larger than the testes itself; moreover 
the penis is variously divided, as is seen in fig. 27. It dees 
not appear that this apparatus can be introduced into the 
female. 
The ascaris lumbricoides has an opening in the middle 
of the belly, which branches out into two tubes that gra¬ 
dually becoming contracted and contorted, form oviducts. 
“ The ascaris,” according to Blumenbach, “ has one testis, 
occupying nearly the middle of the animal’s body, and con¬ 
sisting of a single vessel convoluted into a long bundle, but 
admitting of being unravelled with facility, when it appears 
to be about three feet in length. Towards the posterior part 
of the worm it forms a larger tube, which nearly equals a 
crow’s quill in size, and becomes connected to the penis, 
which lies concealed near the tail, and is probably projected 
at the time of copulation.” But Dr. Hooper states that he 
has never found any distinction of sex in these worms, but 
that they all possess the parts described as belonging to the 
female. The representation of Cuvier agrees with that of Dj. 
Hooper. 
The animals of this class exhibit numerous varieties of 
structure in the different genera and species. 
In the gryllus verrucivorus, Blumenbach notices the large 
testicles, with their convoluted fasciculi of vessels, which bean 
a very close resemblance to the ovaries. 
In the moth of the silk-worm, (bombyx mori) we dis¬ 
tinguish^ 
