Messrs Cheek and Jones on the Anatomy/ of the Lion. 223 



form his natural food. He prowls in the night. By his terrific 

 roar, he affrights the inferior beasts of the forest, which fly 

 confounded before the thicket in which he lurks ; and he either 

 steals secretly and insidiously upon the devoted prey, or leaps 

 upon it suddenly from his lair. He then tears into pieces, and 

 devours the living flesh of his victim, and sates his thirst on the 

 reeking blood. 



Pointing to these habits, the senses of taste and smell are 

 obtuse ; vision is adapted to the gloom of the night ; and hearing 

 to the detection of distant sounds : the sense of touch is also 

 fitted to secure a careful and noiseless motion. It will be seen, 

 from a general description of the organs of these senses, how 

 admirably these peculiarities are explained by the anatomical 

 structure. 



The tongue is to be considered as a prehensile, lacerating 

 organ, rather than as an organ of taste, an exquisite development 

 of which was unnecessary to an animal, whose food is always the 

 same. In the dissection, we found the gustatory nerves, as 

 described by Desmoulins, remarkably small, and distributed 

 principally to the muscles. The filaments, which were very 

 minute, could not be traced far into the skin of the tongue. 



The tongue, following the development of the other organs of 

 prehension and laceration, is, however, of considerable size, 

 measuring twelve inches from the tip to the root of the epiglottis, 

 and three inches in width. The anterior extremity is free, for 

 the length of six inches. The tip and sides of the tongue are 

 covered with numerous filiform papillae, which, proceeding back- 

 wards, gradually become sheathed with small recurved spines. 

 A minute description of these spines would be tedious, and 

 unsuited to this place, although they offer several points of 

 interest to the comparative anatomist. Suffice it to say, that 

 they occupy the whole upper surface of the tongue, gradually 

 becoming smaller, as they proceed backwards, and at length 

 terminate in soft papillae, which preserve the same direction, 

 decreasing in number, and increasing in size, until very few 

 are found at the root of the epiglottis. 



Where the spines are succeeded by the soft papillae, there are 

 four mucous follicles, termed calyciform papillae, two on each side. 

 These papillae, it may be remarked, vary considerably in number 

 in the Cats. The panther, cat, lynx, &c. have as many as ten, 

 whilst in the tiger, caracal, &c. as in the lion, there are only four. 



The use of the sharp and strong spines is apparent. They 

 serve the double purpose of tearing the flesh, and opening new 

 channels for the blood, and of directing the food into the fauces. 



On the under surface of the tongue, near the tip, is a structure 

 which may be considered as a rudiment of the worm in the dog. 

 It is marked by three longitudinal dilations, separated by contrac- 

 tions ; and, in this specimen, was three-fourths of an inch long. 



The organ of hearing of the lion, has a direction the most 

 convenient for its habits, the opening of the meatus and the 

 external ear being both directed forwards and outwards. 



