TASTE. 97 



cavity of the under mandible of the bill. M. De 

 Blainville's description nearly accords with this, as 

 he represents it to be " large, soft, and studded with 

 very fine papillae *." 



The same author gives a minute description of 

 the tongue in ducks (Anatidce, LEACH), which he 

 says possesses " a lingual membrane, large, expanded, 

 and divided into two, by a deep longitudinal 

 furrow. It is besides tolerably soft, but it differs in 

 the several species in the disposition of the papillae 

 which cover it. In the common duck (Anas Boschus) 

 the middle furrow is furnished with a single row of 

 small corneous hooks, of which the posterior is much 

 larger than the others, and unites with a small oval 

 disk, more elevated than the rest of the tongue, having 

 its edge finely divided. The edge of the tongue 

 itself is provided with a sort of scales, largest in front, 

 formed by rather coarse hairs, disposed like the teeth 

 of a comb. The rest of the membrane of taste is 

 covered with soft papillae, very fine in front, larger 

 and more tuberculated backwards. Before the 

 opening of the windpipe are several rows of long 

 papillae, somewhat horny, inclining backwards : the 

 tip is rounded, thin, and finely papillated. In swans 

 (Cygni) the tip and part of the posterior end of the 

 tongue is, on the contrary, covered by stiff and close 

 set hair ; the middle and the rest of the posterior 

 portion are armed with a sort of bony plates, disposed 

 in longitudinal lines, one on each side of the middle 

 furrow, and the other more on the outside and back- 

 wards. The long soft papillae, in fine, are seen behind 

 a large rough tubercle f. J> 



In the parrots (Psittacidce), again, the tongue is 

 thick, fleshy, and the lingual membrane soft, and pro- 

 vided with papillae, disposed lengthwise upon a sort 

 of anterior disk, supported by a corneous semicircle, 

 * Anat. Coroparee, p. 260. * Ibid. p. 261. 



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