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Show 12 MR. A. H. GARROD ON THE [Jan. 2, meeus), Nannotragus (nigricaudatus), Tragelaphus (scriptus), Damalis (albifrons), and Addax (naso-maculatus). According to Dr. Murie they exist in the Prongbuck and Saiga ; in Moschus according to Pallas, and in the Giraffe according to Prof. Owen1. In the uterus of the Cotyledontophora it is well known that there are papilliform developments of the inner walls which serve for the attachment of the cotyledons in the impregnated organ. Although it has not been actually proved, so far as 1 am aware, by direct evidence that the cotyledonary papillae and the cotyledons are exactly the same in number in each individual, yet there is every reason to believe that it is so. On this assumption I take the number of these papillae as an index of the nature of the placenta itself, this being so difficult to obtain on account of the universal habit among the females to eat it immediately it is expelled, parturition generally occurring at night-time. The following Table contains a statement of the number of papillae or cotyledons (as the case may have been) which I have found, together with those made by Prof. Turner on the same subject*. From it I feel justified in deducing the law that the cotyledons are few in the Cervidae, numerous in the Bovidae-at the same time that I would suggest the name O L I G O C O T Y L E D O N T O - P H O R A for the former, and P O L Y C O T Y L E D O N T O P H O R A for the latter. TABLE II. Name. Cervus elaphus campestris Capreolus caprea Camelopardalis giraffa... Bangifer tarandus Authority. Turner & A. H. G*. A. H. G. tt Bischoff. Turner. A. a. a. Owen. A. H. G. Spec. No. 2755 in E. C. S. Museum, and Catalogue description. Number of Cotyledons. 12 or 8. 9, 8 large and 1 small. 2 foetus, with 3 cotyledons in one cornu and 5 in the other. 5 or 6. 60 to 100. 60 to 100. 180 large and small. As in Ovis. i Number of Papilla. 4 in each cornu. 5 in one cornu, 4 in the other. Very many. 4 in one cornu. Osteologically, among the Cervidae, the skull presents features which correspond in great measure with their geographical distribution ; and, dentally, the peculiarities of the third lower premolar are most instructive. The consideration of these latter I hope to be able 1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. ii. p. 240. 2 Comp. Anat. of Placenta, 1875, p. 66. |