MUSK-DEER, a small deer-like animal (Moschus moschsferus) of the sub-family Moschin6r differing from typical deer in the absence of antlers in either sex, in having only one lachrymal orifice, in the presence of a gall bladder, and, in the male, of the musk-bearing glands to which the animal owes its name. Other peculiarities are the smooth brain, long tusks (canines) of the upper jaw of the male and the character of the feet, where the afalse hoofs° come to the ground. These and other characters led Flower to declare it 'can un developed deer° —a representative of an an cient type.
The musk-deer is of small size, about 20 inches tall, grayish, marked with obscure stripes on the fore quarters and neck, and ungraceful in form, but agile in movement. The species is confined to the highlands of Tibet and northward, where they frequent the pine woods, going to the heights above them in summer. They dwell alone or in family parties, are timid and secretive, feeding rarely except at night, and then subsisting partly on roots dug with their great teeth.
The males alone yield the musk secretion, which is furnished by a glandular sac or pouch situated on the abdomen, and averaging the size of a hen's egg. The secretion is resinous and unctuous, and becomes granular and of a dark color when dried. About 190 grains is stated to be the average quantity obtained from a single animal. When the musk-sac is first opened the odor is said by Tavernier to be so powerful that it causes the mucous membrane of the nose to bleed. The bag or apod° is cut out by the hunters and its orifices are tied, nevertheless the contents are often found much adulterated. The substance also reaches the market in a granular form, having been scraped off rocks where. it has been deposited by the animal. The best comes by way of India and China, and is known as Tongking musk; a poorer quality comes from Siberia. Formerly musk had some value in medicine, but now Is used almost wholly by perfumers; and the de mand is so great that the animals are now com paratively rare, and the price of musk-pod has greatly advanced over former rates.
A somewhat similar secretion is possessed by many other mammals and reptiles, and in some cases, as of the muskrats (q.v.), is very strong, espec'ally in the mating season. The biological significance of it, no doubt, is sexual attraction. A similar odor belongs to certain plants. Consult Flower and Lydekker, mals' (London 1902).
a singular ruminant (Ovibos moschatus), now confined to the Actic regions of North America, but once circumpolar, and in Pleistocene times an inhabitant of all Eu rope and in America as far south as Kentucky. In general appearance it much resembles a large hairy sheep. Its body is clothed in long, brownish hair, with a warm undercoat of wool, very thick and tufted on the neck and shoul ders, and elsewhere long and flowing so that it hangs down almost to the feet A lighter sad dle-shaped patch marks the middle of the back. The tail is short and invisible. The legs are short and strong, and the hoofs of unequal size and shape, the outer being much broader than the inner one. The horns are broad at the base, covering the forehead and crown, much as do those of the Cape buffalo, then curve down ward between the eye and the ear and then upward and backward. The average size of the male is that of a small domestic ox. This animal seems intermediate in structure between oxen and sheep, having part of its characteris tics bovine and the other part caprine. A thorough exposition of its anatomy by Dr. Lonnberg may be found in the (Proceedings' of the Zoological Society of London for 1900. The musky odor which belongs to them is not emitted by any special gland, buts a gen eral emanation, and is not very strong.
In habits these animals are gregarious, each herd mimbering from 20 to 30 members. They migrate in winter from the most northern and exposed places to those farther south, or where food is more accessible, and are constantly hunted by the Esquimos as an important source of food. To this is added much destruction by fur-traders, whalers and explorers, and their numbers are much diminished. Their present winter range is rarely south of the Barren Grounds (q.v.), between Hudson Bay and Great Slave Lake. Their food consists of moss, lichens, herbage and twigs of the dwarf willows and birches which grow in parts of their country. They are extremely wary, and their hunting requires great skill and endur ance. Their flesh is good, their hides very use ful and from their wool might he woven an admirable cloth could it be obtained in sufficient quantity. Consult books by Arctic explorers and Allen, J. A. t(Ostogenetic and Other Vari ations in Muskoxen (American Museum of Natural History, Memoir, Vol. I, N. S., New York 1913); Grinnell, blister and Whitney, Musk-Ox and Sheep' (New York 1904).