674 MAMMALIA. 



bones of their victims ; and the gustatory papillae 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 sur- 

 face, and, moreover, the distribution of the nerves supplied to it, 

 differ in no important circumstance from what is observed in the 

 human organ of taste. 



(753.) 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 the glands, that offer the same general arrangement as in Man. 



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. 



The submaxillary and the sublingual glands are also very ge- 

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

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



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. 



In the Seals (Phocida) there are no parotids, neither are these 

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

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

 two other secreting organs, of which Cuvier gives the following de- 

 scription.* One is in contact inferiorly with the upper edge of the 

 masseter muscle, and fills up a great part of the space that repre- 

 sents the temporal, zygomatic, and orbital fossae, where it partially 

 embraces the globe of the eye : the excretory duct derived from 

 this gland opens into the mouth, behind the superior maxillary 

 bone. The other, which is probably destined to furnish the viscid 

 secretion that coats the worm-like tongue of this animal, is oval 

 and flat, lying in front of the tendon of the masseter behind the 

 angle of the lips, and then running along the edge of the lower lip 

 as far as its middle. Its canal opens externally in a groove at the 

 commissure of the lips, and a white, thick, and tenacious fluid may 

 be pressed out, from the cells of which the gland seems to be 

 made up. 



In a few species, in addition to the salivary glands met with in 



* Lefons d'Anat. Comp. torn. iii. p. 215. 



