Further observations on the occurrence of taste buds in the papilla palatina of primates.

1. Taste buds occur in the epithelium of the papilla of Galago crassicaudatus and demidovi, Perodicticus potto and Microcebus murinus. The taste buds are found single or in groups of 2 or 3. A taste area ocurs in Galago crassicaudatus and Perodicticus potto. 2. The pattern of the distribution of the taste buds in the species studied is basically the same as found previously in Nycticebus and Tupaia. The taste buds are found in the oral part of the papilla palatina exclusively, far oral to the orifices of the ductus nasopalatinus and vomeronasalis. 3. From the orientation of the taste buds it can be concluded that they taste substances entering the sulcus papillae palatinae, because the buds point at the entrances and at the lumen of that sulcus. Since substances may approach the anterior part of the papilla from the oral direction the taste buds in this area point rostrally. In Galago the anteriormost taste buds are situated in the median plane pointing at the slit between the epithelial laminae of the labial folds. 4. Many taste buds were found in the process of disintegration.