190 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



by the narrator of the above experiments. Like the antennae of 

 some insects, the ear- and nose-leaves of some Bats have rapid 

 vibratile movements; such, at least, have been observed in captive 

 specimens, each pinna moving independently of the other : ' it 

 looked as if he were feeling for sound and smell.' ! The nasal 

 leaf is livid or flesh-coloured in Rhinolophus. In the bats of 

 passive food, such as the Vampires (Desmodi) that are attracted 

 by scent in a direct flight to the large living body they suck, and, 

 when gorged, flit lazily back to drowse away a long digestion in 

 their murky retreats ; or such as the Roussettes (Pteropi) that wing 

 their way to fruit trees, and, after feeding, suspend themselves in 

 sleep to the branches ; the auricular and nasal tegumentary 

 appendages are small and simple : such sensitive tactile guides 

 or warners in flight are only needed in the bats of active food, 

 ui which must follow in swift evo- 



lutions, like the swallows, but 

 in gloom, the volatile insects 

 that people the summer air at 

 dawn or dusk. 



§ 214. Organ of taste.— The 

 tongue attains in mammals its 

 full development as an organ 

 of taste; and, as respects the 

 extent and organisation of the 

 gustative surface, in the highest 



degree in Man, fig. 141. The 

 chief distinction of this from a 

 tactile surface is that the sensi- 

 tive papillae are on processes 

 rising above the epithelial level, 

 said processes being com- 

 monly called ( papillae.' As we 

 descend in the mammalian series 

 the mechanical offices of the 

 tongue predominate over the 

 sensitive ones. In the Giraffe, 

 Pangolins, Anteaters, and 

 Echidna, its most obvious office 

 is that of prehension ; and in the 

 Ornithorhynchus it supports teeth, horny like those of the jaws, and 

 it has mechanical modifications in relation to the cheek pouches. 

 In all Mammals the dorsum of the tongue is more or less papil- 



1 lxxix*. p. 65. 



* 



Human tongue, gustative surface, or ' dorsum 



CCXh. 



