CHAP, vi.] THE CAT'S ALIMENTARY SYSTEM. 



171 



The parts destined to subdivide the food, the teeth, have heen 

 already described.* The adaptation of the sectorial teeth for the 

 division of flesh is manifest and admirable. The canines are not 

 used for dividing the food. They are 

 weapons for seizing and destroying- 

 prey, or for combat. The incisors are of 

 little functional utility, but they help 

 to scrape off flesh and sinews from the 

 surfaces of bones. The upper true 

 molars are so small as to be of little 

 service, but their shape and position 

 adapt them for crushing any suitably 

 sized object (such as a small piece of 

 bone) which may have been taken into 

 the mouth. 



9. The TONGUE fills up the cavity 

 of the mouth between the horizontal 

 rami of the mandible. It is a mus- 

 cular mass, coated with mucous mem- 

 brane, attached behind to the hyoid 

 and below to the membrane of the floor 

 of the mouth, but with a free apex. 

 It is long and flat, with nearly parallel 

 sides, tapering slightly in front and 

 more so at its posterior attachment. 



Its fleshy mass is principally composed 

 of transverse fibres which pass directly 

 right and left from, a central, vertical 

 membranous septum. This mass of trans- 

 verse fibres is traversed by ascending 

 fibres of the genio-hyoglossus muscle, 

 and is coated externally by longitudinal 

 fibres which form its cortical muscular 

 layer. Above and below, these fibres 

 belong to two muscles ; one, called 

 the ling italis superjicialis superior, pro- 

 ceeds forwards from the basi-hyal, and 



the other, called the Unyualis superficiaUs inferior, passes thence on 

 each side of the ascending fibres above mentioned. The lateral 

 longitudinal fibres come from the stylo-glossus and hyo-glossus. 

 This mass of muscular fibres enables the tongue to move freely in 

 all directions and to modify its own shape. 



Imbedded in the areolar tissue of the septum and near the lower 

 surface of the tongue is a spindle-shaped body (formed of ^ fibrous 

 tissue, fat and muscular fibre), connected anteriorly with ^the 

 mucous membrane of the tongue, and tapering off behind till it is 

 lost in the tissue of the septum. This body is the lytta or "worm." 



Fig. 87. DORSUM OF THE TONGUE 

 OF THE CAT. 



a. Arytenoid cartilage. 



co. Circumvallate papilla*. 



e. Epiglottis. 



/. Fungi form papillae. 



p. Posterior pillar of fauces. 



s. Conical papilla. 



t. Tonsil. 



v. Vocal cord. 



See ante, p. 27. 



