The tongue and lingual papillae of the Japanese Insectivora, the Shinto shrew (Sorex caecuiens saevus), the long-clawed shrew (S. unguiculatus), the dsinezumi shrew (Crocidura dsinezumi dsinezumi) and the Japanese water shrew (Chimarrogale himalyica platycephala), were observed by scanning electron microscope. The tongue of these animals had two vallate papillae. In two species of the Sorex a papilla in the vallate papilla was surrounded by two separated trenches, but in the other species it was surrounded by only a continuous trench and a clear vallum. The fungiform papillae in the Sorex were less developed than those of the other species. In the Sorex and Crocidura, there was no filiform papilla on the lingual apex. These genera, however, have papillary projections in the margin of the lingual apex. The results of this investigation suggest that the Sorex and Crocidura indicate an ancient form of the mammalian tongue. These characters, furthermore, were compared among seven species in six genera added three species observed by Kobayashi et al. (1983) to this study.

The superficial structure of the tongue for the Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, were observed by scanning electron microscope. The external characters of tongue and the types of papillae (the filiform, fungiform, vallate and foliate papillae) were fundamentally much the same to other Muridae and Cricetidae. In this animal, the small filiform and the fungiform papillae were observed not only on the dorsal surface of the palatal part, but also on the under surface of the anterior free part where there is no papilla in other rodents. The foliate papillae, furthermore, had well-developed von Ebner glands which opened into the bottom of the furrows. It is considered that these characters point to the adaptation to live in sandy deserts.

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