402 ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



is continued backward from beneath the parotid on the side of 

 the neck. 



The representative of the ' sublingual gland ' forms a thin layer, 

 divided for the most part into narrow elongated lobes or groups 

 of follicles, attached to and spread over the inferior buccal mem- 

 brane for an extent of twelve inches : the greatest breadth of this 

 layer is two and a half inches, and is opposite the angle of the jaw. 



There is a small elongated ( labial gland,' lying upon the fore 

 part of the buccinator, near its lower border, and sending its 

 secretion into the side of the fore part of the mouth ; apparently 

 to lubricate that contracted aperture during the frequent and 

 rapid protrusive and retractile movements of the tongue. The 

 ' buccal glands ' form a very extensive but extremely thin stratum 

 of muco-glandular follicles, closely attached to the thin membrane 

 of the mouth ; they are chiefly developed at the lower and lateral 

 parts, and along the middle of the upper surface of that part of 

 the mouth which is prolonged backward, below the similarly pro- 

 longed nasal canal, beyond the bony palate. These glands ter- 

 minate by innumerable very minute orifices upon the smooth 

 inner surface of the buccal membrane, which they serve to lubri- 

 cate. They are continuous with the better-marked series of 

 follicles extending along the sides of the under surface of the 

 mouth, beneath the lower jaw, which represent the ( sublinguals. ' 

 But the glands that pour out the abundant viscid secretion which 

 lubricates the tongue and is mainly subservient to its peculiar 

 prehensile function in the Great Anteater, are those conjoined or 

 interblended pair that answer to the submaxillary salivary glands 

 in other animals ; which glands are most modified and developed, 

 for a like function, in other species of Myrmecophaga, and, as we 

 have seen, in the Armadillos (Dasypus), and in the Echidna. 



In the little scansorial Myrmecophaga didactyla, the homologues 

 of the submaxillary glands are subcervical and blended together, 

 as in the larger species ; and a slender process is continued from 

 them to the labial gland. The duct commences by three tubes 

 continued on each side from the main body of the gland ; and 

 these tubes dilate into a small reservoir, provided with a com- 

 pressor muscle, before the long and slender single duct is continued, 

 covered by the mylohyoideus, to the symphysis of the jaw. The 

 parotid gland is of very small relative size ; and this striking 

 difference in the proportions of the two chief salivary glands 

 indicates the difference in their functions and in the quality of 

 their respective secretions. The labial glands are relatively 

 larger in the Myrmecophaga didactyla than in. the Myrmecophaga 



