790 MAMMALIA. 



shorten the tongue until it lies in a very small compass, or bend it in any 

 direction ; whilst the annular muscle will lengthen it, exactly in the 

 same way as the body of a leech is extended or contracted. 



(2285.) In the Ant-eater the annular muscle does not appear so 

 distinctly double as it does in the Echidna; but it forms by itself 

 almost all the substance of the tongue, which is thus capable of being 

 elongated to a wonderful extent. 



(2286.) Regarding the tongue with reference to the sense of taste, 

 the Mammalia may be looked upon as the only animals capable of 

 receiving much enjoyment from this source, since in them alone the 

 lingual mucous lining seems to be perfectly adapted to gustation. Even 

 among these highly-endowed creatures, it is only in Man, and those 

 Herbivorous orders that prepare their food in the mouth by a prolonged 

 mastication, that the sense in question exhibits much delicacy of per- 

 ception ; for the Carnivorous quadrupeds, seeing that they tear to pieces 

 and swallow their food in large morsels, can scarcely be supposed to pay 

 much attention to its sapid qualities. 



(2287.) In the Cat tribe (Felidce), indeed, all the middle portion of the 

 surface of the tongue is covered over with sharp, recurved, and horny 

 spines, adapted, as it were, to file off remnants of soft flesh from the 

 bones of their victims ; and the gustatory papillse are elsewhere of 

 small dimensions. The tongue of the Porcupine, likewise, is armed on 

 each side near its extremity with broad, horny and sharp scales ; but, 

 with these exceptions, the mucous covering of the tongue, the various 

 kinds of papillae upon different parts of its surface, and, moreover, the 

 distribution of the nerves supplied to it, differ in no important circum- 

 stance from what is observed in the human organ of taste. 



(2288.) Importantly connected with the perfection of the sense of 

 taste, and materially assisting in the mastication of food, is the salivary 

 apparatus, which, throughout all the Mammalia, is made up of glands 

 that offer the same general arrangement as in Man. 



(2289.) The parotids vary principally in their proportionate size ; and 

 their ducts always perforate the lining membrane of the mouth in the 

 vicinity of the molar teeth. 



(22907) The submaocillary and the sublingual glands are also very 

 generally present ; and, as in the human subject, the saliva that they 

 furnish enters the mouth beneath the under surface of the tongue. 



(2291.) The mucous lining of the lips and cheeks is likewise studded 

 with muciparous follicles, called, from their situation, buccal, molar, or 

 labial glands ; these likewise serve to lubricate the oral cavity. 



(2292.) In the Seals (Phocidce) there are no parotids, neither are 



these glands found in the Echidna liystrix, or in the Ant-eater (Myrme- 



copJiaga) ; but in the last-named genus their place is supplied by two 



other secreting organs, of which Cuvier gives the following description*. 



* Le9ons d'Anat. Comp. iii. p. 215. 



