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Show 1870.] DR. J. MURIE ON SAIGA TARTARICA. 477 It is necessary to speak with caution of the inferences deducible from pelvic formation, as sex, age, &c. render data unstable, unless an extensive series are studied side by side. The pelvis of the young female Saiga resembles that of the adult female Red Deer; but the adult male Saiga's does not agree with it. The ilia of most Deer are shorter, the pubic angle wider, the brim is not so round, the symphysial ridge and the ischial tuberosities relatively less pronounced. Sheep contrasted with Saiga have a more oval contour of brim, their anterior superior spinous processes, external ischial spine, and postischial tuberosity are, as in it, large, yet less produced ; the pubic angle is narrow and short. A greater differentiation obtains in the Goat, Ibex, and Chamois, where the bony processes are less developed and the pubic angle is wider. II. NASAL CHAMBERS AND MYOLOGY. 1. The Nares. Outer aspect.-The organ, par excellence, which first excites attention and gives a peculiar character to the Saiga is its trunk-like proboscis (fig. 12). No existing Ruminant, to m y knowledge, is furnished with such an exaggerated nasal apparatus, though some few have the upper lip more than ordinarily elongated. It is, however, to the ample soft narial walls that tbe Pig-like or proboscidean face is due in Saiga. As in Swine, its extremity is abruptly truncated ; but it differs very materially from theirs in being soft and flabby, without a discoid fihro-cartilaginous expanse; and the nasal orifices are very patulous. Neither is the Saiga's nasal enlargement quite after the type of the Elephant and Tapir, where the trunk is provided with a tactile retracting tip. The Horse, again, bears a resemblance to the Saiga in its greatly dilated nostrils, which, however, are more cartilaginous ; and its upper lip is much more callous and prehensile. Externally and in front tbe nose and muzzle of the Saiga have a semilunar contour, the lip broad, hairy, and mesially grooved, but not deeply fissured. The nares have an extreme transverse diameter of 2 inches, and each is an inch in depth. Each wide nostril is suboval, and, when dilated, inclines upwards and outwards, where it is rather wider than at the septum. This latter exteriorly is moderately thick, but thin interiorly for 2 or 3 inches backwards. The' nasal passages are about 4 inches long from the external orifice to the nasal cartilages, 2 inches deep, the width depending greatly upon the contraction of the facial muscles ; for the passages themselves are very lax and pliant in the dead body. The accurate Pallas has not passed unnoticed that the floor and outer wall are clothed with longish silky white hairs, and studded with sebaceous follicles., the septum naked, and that there is a peculiar maxillary sac opening within tbe cavity of each naris. Nasal sac.-This sac possesses much interest, as helping, with others, to a better understanding of the homology of the Cetacean nasal sacs, which I have treated upon and compared with this else- PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1870, No. XXXII. |