On some points relating to the anatomy and habits of the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), and on the presence of intestinal glands not before noticed / by Edwards Crisp.

  • Crisp, Edwards, 1806-1882.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some points relating to the anatomy and habits of the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), and on the presence of intestinal glands not before noticed / by Edwards Crisp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    one from n male animal and the other from a female, the one weighed 10 lbs., the other 12 lbs.,—the small lower jaw of one weighing 4^ lbs. Of the skulls of two Horses weighed, one was 10^ lbs., and the other 11 lbs. But there is another remarkable peculiarity in the skull of the Camel, that has not been, I think, sufficiently noticed, viz. the Go- rilla-like form of the upper and back part; indeed I can find no animal that has so great a resemblance to the Gorilla in this parti- cular as the Camel. The large size, too, of what are called the true canine teeth, which in some male Camels exceed the length of 2 inches (out of the gum), is another curious affinity; and the early obliteration of the cranial sutures may be mentioned as a third, although I believe, from the examination of a great many skulls of the Gorilla, that they are earlier effaced in this animal; but the rough and unequal condition of the cranial surface for the firmer attachment of muscle is far greater in the Gorilla. In the Camel the occipital, the sharp parietal, and the triangular frontal ridges are all present, as in the Gorilla; but the occipital ridge is often deeper than that in the anthropoid Ape. Another deviation in the Camelidce is worthy of notice: they have only twelve ribs, whilst the great majority of ruminants have thirteen ; the Giraffe, as is well known, has fourteen. The number of lumbar vertebrae in the Camels is seven, as in the Oxen. Under the microscope there is a marked difference in the hair of the Bac- trian Camel and that of one-humped Camel: the former is of a more woolly character. As is well known, the blood-corpuscles of the Camelidce are of an elliptical form ; but in the animal I have lately dissected, from the great amount of pulmonary disorganization, the white corpuscles of the blood were very abundant, and these were all round—a fact, I think, of some physiological importance. [From the Proceedings of the Zoological. Society of London, March 14, 1865.] [9]