V-12 Head Gasket Questions (archive)

This is a question for serious wrench heads. I've just pulled the drivers side cylinder head (cylinder 7-12) on my '93 750iL. The water jacket passages from the block to the head consist of 4 oblong holes spaced evenly around each cylinder. The weird part is the head gasket. At cylinder 7 the gasket has 4 oblong holes corresponding to the water jacket holes and allowing coolant to flow freely. This is what I would expect. However, at the other 5 cyliners, instead of 4 oblong holes there are 4 small round holes, approximately 3/16" in diameter, which clearly restrict the flow of coolant between the block and the head. Oblong outlines are traced at the appropriate locations on the gasket, but only the small holes actually are punched through. My questions:
1. had anyone else seen this phenomena?
2. is this the way its supposed to be or do i have a defective gasket?
3. if its normal, why was this done?
4. is there a reason why, when i put on a new gasket, i shouldn't punch out the gasket so that there are full, oblong holes around each cylinder?

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