70 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. XIV. 



a sharp angle. Of the incomplete ridges, the hindmost is scarcely more 

 than a rounded papule, the next one is posteriorly angled, two others 

 are straight and another has its ends directed backward. This is the 

 condition found in a male specimen. A female shows a similar but not 

 identical arrangement, two of the short ridges being absent and one of 

 the long ones, that between the third molars, being interrupted in the 

 middle. 



The soft palate and the naso-pharyngeal cavity are relatively long. 

 The naso-pharyngeal isthmus is guarded on the dorsal side by several 

 slender filaments directed anteriorly. 



Tongue. The tongue (PI. X, Figs. 3 and 4) is rather slender and 

 somewhat pointed at the tip. In a male specimen, it measures 22.5 mm. 

 from the tip to the epiglottis and 4.5 mm. in greatest width. The under 

 surface is sharply keeled and from the median ridge a longitudinal flap 

 extends from the basal part of the tongue to the tip. A slight median 

 raphe is indicated on its upper surface from near the middle almost or 

 quite to the tip. 



The upper surface is densely covered with coronate papillae. No 

 microscopic preparations were made, but under a strong binocular lens 

 these coronate papillae appear simpler than those of Didelphis, not 

 being strongly hooked and including relatively few secondary hairlike 

 papillae. No differentiation of the anterior from the posterior coronate 

 papillae was detected (see Poulton, 1883, p. 618). 



Fungiform papillae are scattered somewhat irregularly among the 

 coronate papillae and are rather small and disklike. There is nothing 

 comparable to the highly developed fringe of fungiform papillae on the 

 end of the tongue which is found in Didelphis and Marmosa. 1 



The circumvallate papillae are as usual three in number. They are 

 about equidistant from each other and the angle formed by the posterior 

 one is somewhat obtuse. Each has a peculiar retrorse process developed 

 on its dorso-caudal surface, giving it a form resembling a helmet. Similar 

 backwardly directed circumvallate papillae were found by Poulton 

 (1. c., p. 610) in Dasyurus and said by him to be unique in his ob- 

 servations of the tongues of various marsupials. 



Filiform papillae are present in small numbers in the usual position. 

 No lateral organ could be discerned. 



On the whole, the tongue of C&nolestes seems much more similar to 



1 This characteristic of these American forms appears not to have been noted 

 previously, since the specimen (Metachirus) used by Poulton (1. c.) lacked the 

 extreme tip. The tongues of Didelphis and Marmosa are broad at the tip and thickly 

 studded with somewhat elongate and pedunculate fungiform papillag, giving the 

 end of the tongue a fringed or dentate appearance not reported for any other 

 marsupials. 



