Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/1452
Scientific nameChamaeleo dilepis
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
Object nameTongue, Larynx, Organs of Taste, Mounted wet tissue
DescriptionThe tongue, larynx and laryngeal pouch of a chameleon.
The tongue is retracted leaving only the bulbous head visible. This has been dissected to reveal the specialised muscle and ligaments of the tongue.
Production date Estimated 1760 - Estimated 1793
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Related objectsRCSHC/1453RCSHC/1454RCSHC/1455
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 4: The Long Gallery
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue mounted in a rectangular perspex container.
Materialperspex
Chamoeleo
Dimensions
whole height: 274 mm
whole width: 88 mm
whole depth: 53 mm
whole weight: 1468 g
whole width: 88 mm
whole depth: 53 mm
whole weight: 1468 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript1452: The tongue, larynx and laryngeal pouch of a Chameleon (Chamaeleon planiceps). The tongue is fully retracted, so that only the 'head' or bulbous extremity is visible partly withdrawn into a recess (tongue sheath) in the floor of the mouth close in front of the larynx. The extremity of the tongue is indented transversely and covered by a thick glandular membrane. The ventral surface of the 'head' of the tongue has been slit open longitudinally to expose the thickness of the circular muscles composing the accelerator linguae, and within them the cavity occupied by the entoglossal and its inverted elastic ligament. Between the hinder limit of this ligament and the posterior attachment of the tongue can be seen the wrinkled walls of the tubular portion and the base of the entoglossal. The mode of action of the different parts of the tongue of the Chameleon has been only imperfectly explained. Probably the ejection of the tongue is caused partly by the sudden forward thrust of the entoglossal due to the contraction of the protrusors of the hyoid and partly by the contraction of the circular muscles of the 'head' (accelerator linguae) which, by compressing the conical apex of the entoglossal, would tend to force this bone backwards and in effect eject the 'head' of the tongue forward from it. Retraction is partly due to the recoil of the elastic ligament that connects the entoglossal with the 'head', partly to the contraction of the hyoglossus, and partly to the withdrawal of the hyoid as a whole by the sterno-hyoid muscles.
