Observations on the blood-corpuscles of certain species of the genus cervus

Abstract

The author has found that the blood of the Muntjac, the Porcine, and the Mexican Deer, contains, together with corpuscles of the ordinary circular form, a still larger number of particles of less regular shape; some curved and gibbous in the middle, and acutely pointed at the ends, with a concave and convex margin, like a crescent; others approaching more nearly to segments of a circle; some shaped like a comma, being obtuse at one end and terminated by a pointed curve at the other; others having an acute projection of the convex part, so as to constitute a triangular, or even quadrangular outline; some having the figure of the head of a lance; while a few presented a double or sigmoid flexure, as if they had been twisted half round at the middle. Like the ordinary blood-discs, these peculiar corpuscles are deprived of their colouring matter by water; but with only a small quantity of water they quickly swell out, and assume an oval or circular figure, forming long bead-like strings by the approximation of their edges. In saline solutions they become rather smaller, but preserve their figure tolerably well. In an appendix, the author gives an account of his observations of the blood-corpuscles of a new species of Deer inhabiting the mountains of Persia, of which a specimen has been lately received by the Zoological Society. Many of these corpuscles presented the singular forms above described.