160 The Alligator and Its Allies 
a thick horny layer, h, in which no nuclei can be 
seen. The cells of the horny layer are flattened into 
mere fibers, which, at places, are seen projecting 
from the sur- 
face. The bound- 
ary between the 
horny cells and 
those beneath is 
quite distinct, 
though perhaps 
not quite so sharp 
as shown in the 
figure under dis- 
cussion. 
Fic. 36. The covering of the anterior re- . 
gion of the tongue of the hibernating animal, In a previous 
under fairly high magnification; the plane of paper, the writer 
this section is not shown in Figure 35; a, 
areolar tissue; ve, epithelium; h, horny layer noted that the 
of epithelium. dorsum of the 
tongue is covered 
with small, evenly distributed. papille, easily seen 
by aid of a hand lens. These so-called papilla 
are here seen to be hardly papille at all, but small 
folds or wrinkles, although the epithelium is some- 
what thickened at intervals. No glands are to be 
seen in this region of the tongue. 
The only difference between the anterior region 
of the tongue during hibernation and during the 
feeding season seems to be in the scaly layer of the 
epithelium. Instead of the compact, sharply dif- 
ferentiated layer of scaly cells seen in Figure 36, 
