THE TASTE-BUDS. 



387 



eral ends of the supporting cells, somewhat blunted and flattened and be- 

 set with a narrow cuticular zone, are closely grouped to bound the annular 



opening of the inner taste-pore, through which project the stiff hair- processes 



of the gustatory cells. Their deeper or 



central ends are prolonged into one or more 



protoplasmic processes which unite with 



similar extensions of the basal cells, as 



the peculiar supporting cells at the base of 



the bud are called. The basal cells are 



modified sustentacular elements, probably 



epithelial in nature, which occupy the lower 



fourth of the buds, resting upon the sub- 

 jacent epithelium and, in turn, affording 



support for the elongated cells. Although 



differing in size and details of form, the 



basal cells are provided with oval nuclei 



and are generally more or less branched. 

 The gustatory cells are irregularly 



arranged between the more deeply placed 



supporting cells and enclosed within a shell 



formed by the more superficial ones. They 



are long and fusiform, reaching from the 



base of the bud to the inner taste-pore, 



through which the stiff hair-like processes 



that cap their outer ends project. Their 



slender nuclei, rich in chromatin and deeply 



staining, occupy the thickest parts of the cells, which beyond the nucleus 



are continued in either direction as thin processes. The peripheral ones, as 



noted, extend not only as far as the inner taste-pore, but through the latter 

 2 i and into the canal by means of the 



gustatory hairs into which the taste 

 cells are prolonged. The centrally 

 directed ends are usually much the 



Taste-bud 



Taste-pore 



Epithelium 



Taste-bud 



FIG. 436. Taste-buds 



upper 



one shows gustatory hairs projecting into 

 taste-pore. X 440. 



FIG. 437. Diagram illustrating archi- 

 tecture of taste-bud; i, pore-canal; 2, 3, 

 outer and inner taste-pores ; 4, gustatory 

 cell; 5, supporting cell; 6, lymph-spaces ; 

 7, basal cell; 8, sheath-cell. (Graberg.) 



FIG. 438. Partially separated 

 cells of taste-bud with terminal 

 filaments of gustatory nerve. 

 X 510. (Arnstein.) 



shorter and join the processes of the basal cells. The number of gustatory cells 

 within a single taste-bud varies, in exceptional cases only two or three being 

 present, but more often they are almost as numerous as the supporting cells. 

 The nerves distributed to the gustatory bodies are the fibres of the 

 glosso-pharyngeal, the nerve of taste. From the rich subepithelial plexus 

 numerous twigs ascend into the epithelium, one set going directly into the 

 taste-buds and the other ending within the surrounding tracts of epithelium. 



