276 BULLDXE. 



disk, and not very close together ; they are black, and sessile 

 in the centre of a minute circular lucid spot : M. Cuvier has 

 overlooked them. The fissure of the mouth is vertical; this 

 is placed in the centre and between the tentacular and pedal 

 disks; and on each side the mouth, within the groove, are 

 two elegant conspicuous leaflets perfectly symmetrical, each 

 consisting of twenty strands on each side the stem, which are 

 largest posteriorly, and gradually diminish until they are lost 

 at some little distance from the buccal orifice by suddenly 

 turning inwards, appearing to pierce the groove and enter the 

 buccal caAdty ; they are light yellow ; the one on the right side 

 is placed just above the seminal groove, the other on the left 

 in a symmetrical position ; the strands under the microscope 

 appear to be glandular, without a leading vein or artery ; they 

 have the aspect of minute, wiry, dendroid filaments. These 

 organs I should have taken for the salivary glands, if M. Cuvier 

 had not stated the presence of others of a strap-shaped form 

 in another place, and as he has given nearly a similar form to 

 the salivary glands of the Apfysia, Helix aspersa, and other 

 hermaphrodites, I must defer to such authority. I will return 

 to this point. I have now described all that can be seen 

 without dissection. 



The vertical fissure of the mouth is faced by the anterior 

 part of the tongue, which consists of two hemispherical por- 

 tions, each furnished with fifteen obliquely arcuated yellow, 

 wiry, horny strands, set with short transverse hooks bending 

 posteriorly. This denticular apparatus does not extend through 

 the large, oval, pale red fleshy buccal mass, and is not sup- 

 ported by distinct corneous plates, but by a tough coriaceous 

 membrane. From the posterior end of the buccal mass the 

 oesophagus proceeds straight to the gizzard ; it is long, flat, 

 broad and dilatable, accompanied by the two straps described 

 by M. Cuvier as the salivary glands, which are fixed to each side 

 of the anterior and upper part of the gizzard, and run on each 

 side the oesophagus to the posterior end of the buccal mass, to 

 which also on each side they are attached, apparently only to 

 the external surface, and do not appear to pierce it. Under 

 the microscope they have little appearance of being glandular 



