302 DEVELOPMENT OF SALIVARY GLANDS IN THE DOMESTIC CAT 



of the orbitoparotid (Fig. 117), which it strikingly resembles. It is 

 of nearly the same size, and in its well-marked retort shape bears 

 evidence of being a bud of great activity. Should such an element 

 fulfil its possibilities, it would in the adult impose as an orbitoparotid, 

 by reason of its orifice upon the stomal ridge and the position of its 

 fundus ventrad of the sloping border of the masseter, between the 

 superficial and deep facial veins. It is to be noted that in the small 

 series of adults such an element was of much greater frequency than 

 the orbitoparotid of the embryo. Notwithstanding the smallness of 

 this series, the discrepancy was rather disconcerting. It may be 

 explained by the possibility of late development of such an element 

 as this, which can hardly at present be distinguished from an orbito- 

 parotid in the adult. If the ridge gland could be shown to retain the 

 primitively more ventral position of its orifice on the ridge, it might 

 be recognized; otherwise I fail to see how these elements can be dis- 

 tinguished. 



In this connection another element of the adult may be referred to. 

 Infrequently, so far as our present knowledge extends, there is to be 

 seen on the stomal ridge a small glandular orifice ventrad of, or even 

 craniad of, that of the parotid (Part V, Figs, i, 2). It is possible 

 that this may represent the enlargement of some later estabhshed 

 element of this series at the cranial end of the ridge. It is evadent that 

 we shall not arrive at a complete solution of the problems of this 

 region, until the possibilities of development of the ridge glands are 

 understood. 



The lesser sublitigual glands are represented in the 70 millimeter cat 

 by three sprouts on each side (Fig. 114, j6). They are hemispherical, 

 resemble the basal layer of the oral epithelium in the character of their 

 cells, and are attached to the walls of the circumflex sulcus near its 

 fundus. This furrow is of late appearance and slow development in 

 the cat. In the 19 milHmeter embryo of Fig. 144 the plica sublin- 

 gualis is present as a slight convexity of the floor of the alveoUngual 

 region beside the frenulum. Its mesal border is defined by the lingual 

 sulcus. Laterad a faint furrow appears and gradually extends caudad, 

 nearly reaching the lingual crossing in the 70 millimeter embryo. 

 In the cat the furrow appears merely complimentary to the plica 

 sublingualis, and not in any part of its extent a primitive sulcus. 



