518 DR. 0. F. SONNTAG ON THE ANATOMY 



Family ORYCTEROPODiDiE. 



Orycteropus ccqyensis : 3 vallate papillos in a triangle. 

 ,, ,, : 3 vallate papillee (Rapp, 20). 



It is thus evident that with very few exceptions the American 

 Edentates have a pair of circumvallate papilUe, wheieas tlie 

 African forms have three papilla? disposed in a triangle with the 

 apex directed backwards. 



The papillae are frequently found retracted within a deep fossa, 

 but those in some of the Dasypodidse stand up very prominently. 

 In the specimen of 2\Uusia shown in text-fig. 51 they are veiy 

 prominent, and it is at first sight difficult to distinguisli them 

 from the larger fungiform papilla? on the posterior part of the 

 oral division of tlie dorsum. 



The vallats papillae are close to the epiglottis in the Brady- 

 podidse, Dasypodidte, Myrmecophagidse and Orycterojnis, but they 

 lie far from it in Manis, thus making the basal part of the 

 tongue long. 



In Tamandua (text-fig. 50) there are two small pin-hole-like 

 pits in front of the vallate papillaa, but I was unable to make a 

 histological examination to ascertain whether or not they receive 

 the secretions of glands. 



The vallate papillce are circular on plan, and cylindrical or 

 conical on elevation, with the apex of the cone attached to the 

 tongue. The surface is smooth or granular, and a histological 

 examination shows that the granular eflfect is produced by 

 several secondar}'^ papilla?. The fossa is well marked, and the 

 vallum frequently overlaps the edge of the papilla?. Oppel (17) 

 has published an illustration of a section through a papilla in 

 Manis javanica, showing how the long axes of the taste-buds 

 run downwards and outwards towards the fossa which passes 

 under the base of the cone-like papillae. 



Tuckerman (31) pointed out that the papillae in Dasypns i^eha 

 resemble those of the higher Mammalia, but those of Chlamy- 

 dophoncs truncatus are veiy similar to those of the Marsupialia ; 

 their resemblance to the anterior papillae in Belideus and 

 Phalangista is very marked indeed. 



Fungiform Papillce : — I did not observe any trace of fungiform 

 papillae in ]\[yrmecophaga, Tamandua, Cyclothurus or Manis, nor 

 has any other anatomist described them. They are present in 

 all other Edentata, but they are never very numerous. No 

 apical cluster exists, but they have the usual arrangement in rows 

 of varying degrees of obliquity beliind that in the Dasypodida? ; 

 and they stretch right across the dorsum (text-fig. 51). In the 

 Bradypodida? * the apical cluster varies in size, but the papiljjo 

 do not cross the middle line. In Orycteropibs there is no apical 

 cluster, and the papillte only form a dorsal bounding zone. 

 Tuckerman (21) points out that some of the papilla? are sunk in 



* See foot-note on page 515. 



