254 DR. J. MURIE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CAAING WHALE. 
plications. As the different plice meet they give rise to unequal-sized trapezoidal 
-elevations, many of which are perforated by glandular orifices, which doubtless secrete 
abundantly during the process of deglutition. 
As Macalister has not failed to note, there are a pair of thick palato-glossi, whose 
transverse fibres line the roof of the mouth, im my specimen having a breadth of more 
than six inches. Some few of the anterior fibres continue to the frenum lingue; others 
posteriorly are lost among those of ‘the palato-pharyngeus and constrictores. That the 
above can act as a sphincter isthmi faucium, “capable of occluding perfectly the 
aperture of the pharynx,” I quite acquiesce in; but this is aided to a remarkable extent 
by the presence of a palato-pharyngeal muscle, likewise recorded by the above author’, 
and well developed in my specimen. 
By pharyngo-laryngeal valley, I mean the deep groove running round and within the 
sphincter which grasps the glottis (wide fig. 15). The inner wall of this sulcus is formed 
by a dipping inwards of folds of the postpharyngeal region. Its depth is irregular, half 
an inch at the sides, but shallowing in front and behind, where it is cranially attached. 
The elongated glottis is firmly grasped by the so-called sphincter, the latter leaving 
only an elliptical aperture, whose fleshy rim is about half an inch thick when cut 
through. According as the outer walls are contracted or relaxed, so are the pair of 
gutters or lateral channels of the floor of the pharynx narrowed or otherwise. The 
lining membrane of this latter portion of the pharynx is smooth, or, at most, minutely 
puckered. The postnarial passages possess great numbers of mucous glands. Some of 
these project slightly ; others are embedded in shallow cavities, varying from the size of 
a hemp-seed to twice that. Some are locular, and the whole give a punctated character 
to the membrane, contrasting with the smoother superficies of the pharyngeal floor. 
The posterior narial passages, moreover, possess each a muscular layer, aboye chiefly 
composed of longitudinal fibres. These, as they descend or proceed backwards, increase 
in thickness, and the fleshy bundles assume an oblique and spiral direction, ultimately 
becoming circular as they merge into what is usually entitled the superior pharyngeal 
constrictor. Some of the fibres of this can be traced downwards and backwards to the 
surface and angle of the thyroid cartilage. Others, the enormously developed circular 
ones, constitute chiefly the posterior wall of the pharynx, where they meet from the 
opposite sides in strong, glistening tendinous fibres, covered by a narrowed portion of 
of the inferior constrictor. The constrictor superior, besides, has attachments to the 
posterior border of the palate and to the internal pterygoid plates. 
The constrictor medius is likewise very strong, broad, and fleshy; attachments, side 
and lower surface of the thyroid cartilage, and upper surface of the constrictores superioris 
et inferioris. The last-mentioned muscle is considerably thinner than the others. Its 
narrow upper point has been spoken of with the superior constrictor; its other attach- 
ments are the inner surface of the thyroid cartilage and descending process; the 
posterior fibres mingle with the circular layer of the cesophagus. 
" See P. Z. S. 1867, p. 480. 
