this period the glands on the sides of the face of the male elephant
enlarge, and emit a secretion having a strong musky odour. The males,
and rarely the females, of many kinds of bats have glands and
protrudable sacks situated in various parts; and it is believed that
these are odoriferous.
The rank effluvium of the male goat is well known, and that of certain
male deer is wonderfully strong and persistent. On the banks of the
Plata I perceived the air tainted with the odour of the male Cervus
campestris, at half a mile to leeward of a herd; and a silk
handkerchief, in which I carried home a skin, though often used and
washed, retained, when first unfolded, traces of the odour for one year
and seven months. This animal does not emit its strong odour until more
than a year old, and if castrated whilst young never emits it. (10.
Rengger, Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay, 1830, s. 355.
This observer also gives some curious particulars in regard to the
odour.) Besides the general odour, permeating the whole body of certain
ruminants (for instance, Bos moschatus) in 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 myself seen in an antelope. They are usually
larger in the male than in the female, and their development is checked
by castration. (11. Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 632.
See also Dr. Murie s observations on those glands in the Proc. Zoolog.
Soc. 1870, p. 340. Desmarest, On the Antilope subgutturosa,
Mammalogie, 1820, p. 455.) According to Desmarest they are altogether
absent in the female of Antilope subgutturosa. Hence, there can be no
doubt that they stand in 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
of this deer is from its position necessarily confined to the male, and
forms an additional scent-organ. It is a singular fact that the matter
secreted by this latter gland, does not, according to Pallas, change in
consistence, or increase in quantity, during the rutting-season;
nevertheless this naturalist admits that its presence is in some way
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