CHAPTER V 
THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 
THE ORAL CAVITY 
HE mouth in the Crocodilia is large, as is well 
known, and may be opened very wide. It 
is bounded anteriorly and laterally by the 
teeth of the two jaws; these teeth were described 
in connection with the skull. The mucous mem- 
brane of the roof of the mouth and of the dorsum of 
the tongue, especially the former, exhibits numer- 
ous small papilla (see page 160), and among these, 
in the posterior region of the mouth, are the ducts 
of mucous glands. 
The tongue extends from just back of the 
mandibular symphysis to the glottis. It is at- 
tached throughout its entire ventral side except 
for a short distance at its tip, so that it may be 
elevated and depressed but not protruded. Among 
the papillz on its dorsal surface are sense organs, 
said to be tactile and gustatory corpuscles (see 
page 165). The posterior margin of the tongue is 
elevated as a transverse fold that meets a corre- 
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