380 DISSECTION OF THE RABBIT. 



c. The naso-palatine canals, which connect the nasal 



and buccal cavities, open in a pair of grooves 

 running backwards from the small posterior in- 

 cisors, and about an eighth of an inch behind 

 these. 



d. The tonsils are a pair of small pits at the sides of 



the posterior part of the soft palate, near its 

 hinder border. The outer wall of each is much 

 thickened, forming a papilla which nearly closes 

 the opening. 



2. The floor of the mouth. 



a. The tongue is an elongated muscular mass, attached 



along the greater part of its length to the floor of 

 the mouth, and produced in front into a free 

 flattened tip. 



The surface of its hinder part is hard and 

 slightly elevated ; that of the anterior part is 

 softer and dotted over with small white taste 

 papillae, which are especially numerous at and 

 under the tip. 



At the sides of the tongue, opposite the last 

 molar teeth, are a pair of oval patches, the 

 papillae foliatse, the surfaces of which are crossed 

 obliquely by close-set parallel ridges, in which 

 are imbedded numerous taste-bulbs. 



About a quarter of an inch above and behind 

 the papillae foliatse are a pair of circumvallate 

 papillae, which are small and white, and sur- 

 rounded by circular grooves. 



b. The lower teeth, already described with the skeleton 



(p. 323), are placed opposite the corresponding 

 teeth of the upper jaw, and bite against them. 



3. The sides of the mouth are smooth and soft, with the 



exception of a hairy patch on each side, between the 

 incisor and molar teeth. 



