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Show 1875.j PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON THE MUSK-DEER. 161 The feet of the Musk-Deer, as was well observed while the animal was alive, are remarkable, not only for their size and the great development of the outer hoofs, but also for their freedom of motion and capability of being widely extended and closed again, so that it seemed to have the power of grasping projecting rocky points between its four outspread toes-a power which must be of great assistance in steadying itself in its agile bounds among the crags of its native haunts*. Anatomy of the Oral and Cervical Begions. The exposed parts of the crowns of the upper canine teeth were 0"*2 long, conical, compressed, curved, directed inwards and somewhat backwards, with their apices truncatedf. The papillae lining the cheeks are 0"*15 long, conical, very sharp-pointed, becoming smaller behind. In the floor of the mouth a single row of broad, conical, flattened papillae, with prolonged and very delicate points, extends on each side of the root of the tongue, reaching backwards nearly as far as the last molar tooth, and forwards to within | inch of the incisors. These were broader and flatter in front, and smaller and more slender behind. The longest measure 0"*1 in length. Near the front of the under surface of the attached part of the tongue were a few similar but smaUer papillae, forming a second (upper) line or series. The palate (fig. 1), narrow in front, gradually widens to the canine teeth, where it is 0"*9 across. Between the canines and molars it contracts to 0"*7. Between the first premolar teeth it is 1"*1 and between the last molar 1"*3. The anterior part (two thirds) is covered with callous, retroverted, imbricated elevations, the hinder sharp margins of which are slightly denticulated. These are placed in a double row, one on each side of the middle line, which they touch but scarcely pass across. In the front of the mouth they are arranged in regular pairs ; but after the third those of the left side are placed a little in advance of the corresponding right ridges; and at the narrowest part of the palate, behind the canine teeth, they regularly alternate. The most anterior are narrowest from before backwards and most strongly elevated. They become broader as well as flatter behind the canines. Between the premolars they gradually subside, and are finally lost opposite the commencement of the true molar series. Behind this the palate is perfectly smooth. At its anterior extremity in front of these elevations is a smooth surface, having in the middle line a small somewhat hourglass-shaped prominent pad *2" long from before backwards and narrower from side to side, bordered on each side by the opening of the duct to the nasal passage. * My friend Mr. F. Jeffrey Bell has dissected the muscles of the feet, and intends shortly to give to the Society an account of their structure and arrangement. t In the old male Pudu there were no signs of upper canines-an exception to the general but by no means universal rule in the Artiodactyles, that the tusks are developed in inverse ratio to the frontal appendages. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-18/5, No. XI. 11 |