750 



SCIENCE 



[Vol.. II., No. 44. 



Mammals. 

 The lingual sense-orgaus of Oruithorhynchus. 



— E. B. Poultou has continued his researches on the 

 tonguo (Science, i. 523) by studying that of Ornitho- 

 rhyiiclius. The tongue is about two inclies long, and 

 has only a small part free. The posterior third forms 

 a large rounded conical protuberance, pointing ob- 

 liquely forwards, and bearing at its apes two corne- 

 ous teeth. The anterior division is covered by horny 

 papillae, and has numerous mucous glands. The pos- 

 terior division is more complicated, bearing various 

 organs on its dorsal surface: viz., numerous filamen- 

 tous papillae; an arching fold, limiting the' tongue 

 behind; a median raphe, which does not reach the 

 tip of the cone; and four gustatory pits, — one pair 

 near together, in front; and one pair behind, widely 

 separated. 



The papillae upon the anterior division of the 

 tongue are largest in front, and smaller (and more 

 scale-like) towards the base of the tongue, and also 

 extend over the inferior surface of the basal protu- 

 berance. Except a few in front, they are all cornified, 

 pointed, and inclined backwards. In each of the in- 

 terior of these papillae are lodged from one to four 

 sub-epithelial sensory bulbs ; a medullated fibre runs 

 directly to each bulb, and there loses its sheath ; whi'.s 

 the axis-cylinder is continued into a spindle-shaped 

 body within the bulb, whicli, for the rest, consists of a 

 series of nucleated lamellar envelopes. Poulton com- 

 pares these organs with the Pacinian corpuscles, and 

 considers them tactile. The epithelium between the 

 papillae is not cornified: in it are found the pore-like 

 openings of the numerous mucous glands. 



The epithelium of the overhanging ventral surface 

 • of the posterior protitberance is more specialized, in 

 that four strata can be distinguished in it. Curious- 

 ly, the outer stratum appears less corneous than that 

 which it immediately overlies. The two teeth at the 

 apex have a. very thick corneous layer, which, how- 

 ever, does not cover their tips, but forms a ring 

 around an apical spot of softer epithelium. 



The dorsal surface of the protuberance is covered 

 by a simple epithelium, with numerous hair-like 

 papillae similar to those in Perameles (Science, i. 

 523). In .all four of the gustatory pits is a ridge pro- 

 jecting from the base, and bearing the taste-bulbs 

 under its surface. In the specir.ien examined the left 

 posterior pit was (abnormally?) rudimentary. Each 

 bulb lies in a papilla, which penetrates far into the 

 epithelium, which is also pierced by a i)ore over each 

 bulb. The terminal organ is the axial body (cell?) of 

 the bulb, appended to the end of the nerve^fibre. The 

 surrounding cells are sub-epithelial, and form a sheath 

 around the axial body. This observation confirms the 

 author's theory that the taste-bulbs arose as papillary 

 sub-epithelial structures. The value of this theory 

 was asserted in the abstract of the author's previous 

 paper. Numerous serous glands open around the base 

 of the gustatory ridges. Such glands appear to be 

 very generally associated with the organs of taste. 

 Around the pits are smooth muscles, which (at least, 

 around the mouths of the anterior pair) distinctly 

 form sphincters. 



The gustatory ridges of Ornithorhynchus, if they 

 rose to the surface and were shortened, would become 

 like circumvallate papillae ; if they remained Ions and 

 became furrowed, they would resemble the foliate 

 areas of rodents: hence Poultou considers that the 

 ridges represent a primitive form from whidi both 

 the principal types of elevated gustatory areas in 

 mammals may have been derived. — (Quart, journ. 

 micr. .sc, xxiii. 4.J3.) c. s. m. [461 



Lymphatic and blood vessels. — Dogiel describes 

 the lymph-vessels of the renal capsule and gall-blad- 

 der of the dog. In the renal capsule two layers can 

 be distinguished, the outer of which alone is vascu- 

 lar. Prof. Arnsteiu, in an appended note, states that 

 the rudiiftentary homologue of the fatty envelope of 

 other species is included in this outer layer. The 

 lymphatics form a coarse network of large vessels, 

 which are accompanied by biood-vessels, and spun over 

 by a loose network of very fine capillaries, while in 

 the meshes of ttie lymph.atic network is an abundant 

 collection of anastomosing blood-capillaries. Each 

 mesh thus forms a vascular island. By this distri- 

 bution the lymph-vessels are brought as far as possi- 

 ble from the blood-vessels, — an arrangement which is 

 attained in various ways in other parts, and which 

 is important for the perfect drainage of the tissues. 



In the gall-bladder there are three sets of lymphat- 

 ics, — a net for the mucosa, one for the muscularis, 

 and a third for the serosa externa. These are all de- 

 scribed and figured. — [Arch, miki: anal., xxii. COS.) 

 c. s. 31. [462 



UCan.) 



Branchial arches and clefts. — Cadiat publishes 

 an article destined to serve as "an introduction to 

 the history of the formation of the face and its dif- 

 ferent cavities: of the neck, thorax, ijharynx, and 

 lung;" also the peritoneum, pleurae, pericardium, 

 respiratory cavities: and gills of fishes (!) The re- 

 porter regrets to have found in the article nothing 

 but redescriptions of the pharyngeal apparatus of the 

 embryo chick. As the facts have been familiar to 

 embryologists for very many years, the object of the 

 publication is not obvious. — (RobirCs journ. anat. 

 physiol., xix. 3S. ) c. s. M. [463 



LaTws of dentition. — Magitot publishes a some- 

 what lengthy essay on this subject; hut the article 

 hardly contains original matter, and is written from 

 a point of view too exclusively that of the dentist. — 

 {Robin' a journ. anat.physiol., xix. 59.) c. s. si. [464 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Ancient Orkney-Islanders. — Dr. J. Gr. Garsnn 

 has made a very thorough study of the crania and 

 other remains of the ancient inhabitants of the Ork- 

 ney Islands. His paper takes up in detail their dwell- 

 ings, stature, limb-boues, and skulls, the last named 

 with great detail, and expresses his results in elabo- 

 rate tables. The author comes to the following con- 

 clusions : — 



It is evident that in this series of skulls we have 

 not a single pure race to deal with, but two distinct 

 races, which have existed at probably three different 

 periods. The first and apparently the ruder race 



