150 



THE ORGANS OF TASTE. 



Taste-buds have been compared in general form and appearance to the leaf-buds 

 of a plant. They are flask-shaped bodies, the base of the flask resting upon 

 the corium of the mucous membrane and the apex projecting towards the free 

 surface of the epithelium, and emerging between the ordinary flattened surface- 



Fig. 171. SECTION THROUGH ONE OF THE TASTE-BUDS OF THE PAPILLA FOLIATA OF THE RABBIT. 



(Ranvier.) Highly magnified. 



p, gustatory pore ; . gustatory cell ; ?, sustentacular cell ; m, leucocyte containing granules ; 

 c, superficial epithelium cells ; n, nerve-fibres. 



cells of the stratified epithelium. The cells of the stratified epithelium are adapted 

 and applied to the outer surface of the taste-bud and form a sort of adventitious 

 capsule for it. The most superficial cells may even be perforated to allow of the 

 access of the apex of the taste-bud to the free surface. In any case the apex does 

 not quite reach the surface, but is approached from the surface by a small opening, 

 the gustatory pore. Into this a bunch of fine hairlets, prolonged from the gustatory 

 cells of the taste-bud, is seen to project. 



Every taste-bud contains two kinds of cells termed respectively the sustentactdar 

 and the gustatory cells. The snstentacular cells (fig. 172, b) are long and 

 spindle-shaped, tapering to either end. They form a complete envelope to the 

 taste-bud, being fitted together like the staves of a barrel : these surface cells are 

 flattened from within out. Other sustentacular cells lie within the taste-bud 

 amongst the gustatory cells, extending from apex to base of the taste-bud. 



The gustatory cells (fig. 172, a] closely resemble in general appearance the 

 olfactory cells of Max Schultze (see p. 141). From the nucleated body of the cell 



Fig. 172. CELLS FROM TASTE-BUDS OF RABBIT. (Engelmann.) 

 , four gustatory cells ; b, two gustatory and one sustentacular cell ; c, three sustentacular cells. 



