THE FEELERS OF THE BARBED MULLET 



emanations there, as it might do if it possessed a 

 forked tongue which it could dip in the liquid sur- 

 rounding it. More than all else, these feelers are 

 organs of taste. 



A study of them under the microscope confirms this 

 comparison, as may be seen from Figs. 46 and 47. 



Fig. 46. — Simplified and enlarged view of a transverse section of the 

 barbel of a Bearded Mullet showing (centre) the skeletal axis with 

 a surrounding envelope of muscular tissue ; nearer the exterior 

 the thick skin with taste-buds, oval in shape. Magnified 40 times. 



The surface in its outer layers, in direct contact 

 with the water, contains tiny swellings called " taste 

 papillae ". There are many of them, and they are 

 like those which, equally small and numerous, are 

 found on the surface of real tongues capable of 

 taste, our own, for example. This identity of 

 structure serves to indicate an identity of function, 

 and of the work they accomplish. The mullet tastes 

 with its feelers; it uses them for tasting rather than for 

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