396 ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



usually undivided, from five {Potto) to eight or nine {Galago) 

 in number : between the two anterior ridges are the orifices of 

 canals leading from the palate to the nose. 



The uvula is represented in the Aye-aye and some other Le- 

 muridce by a medial longitudinal fold from the back of the soft 

 palate close to the margin, but does not project so as to divide 

 the fauces into two arches : this form of soft palate begins to 

 appear in Platyrhines : in the Baboons the uvula is thick and 

 short : in the Apes it approaches nearer the proportions of that 

 appendage in Man. 



In the higher Quadrumana the palate is smooth, or unridged, 

 as in Man. 



§ 224. Salivary Glands. — Fluids of different properties are 

 poured into the mouth in aid of its various functions of receiv- 

 ing, retaining, comminuting, softening or dissolving, tasting, and 

 transmitting throatward, the food. For the preparation of these 

 fluids corresponding modifications of glandular parts exist, from the 

 simple mucous follicle to aggregates of three or of more complex 

 follicles, with further multiplication and compaction of secerning 

 surfaces, in groups and bodies, forming glands and ducts with 

 definite names. 



As the function of the mouth is simplified so is the condition 

 of such ministering glands. In the piscivorous Cetacea, which 

 bolt their food like fishes, the parotids and submaxillaries are 

 not present : the latter are represented with the sublinguals, in 

 a diffused form in whalebone whales. The parotids are large in 

 Sirenia ; 1 their ducts open in the Manatee on two papilla?, one on 

 each side the fore part of the palate : in the Dugong the parotids 

 are situated immediately behind the ascending mandibular rami : 

 there is a thick layer of mucous glands above the membrane 

 covering the hard palate. 



In the Ornithorhynchus the parotid, fig. 3, E, is divided into 

 flat portions or lobes thinly applied to the fundus of the cheek- 

 pouch and anterior to the long meatus auditorius. The sub- 

 maxillary, ib. D, is a moderately-sized, oval, compact body, situ- 

 ated behind and below the meatus auditorius. The duct passes 

 under the omo-mylo-hyoideus, ib. 10, and then, contrary to the 

 usual mode, begins to be disposed in a series of about twelve 

 close transverse folds, and terminates by a simple aperture at the 

 frsenum linguae. In the Echidna the submaxillary gland, fig. 302, 

 b t is of unusual dimensions : it extends from the meatus audi- 



1 cxvn". p. 29. 



