FINE-STRUCTURE OF THE SUBMANDIBULAR SALIVARY-GLAND OF THE VENOMOUS SHORT-TAILED SHREW, BLARINA-BREVICAUDA SAY (INSECTIVORA, SORICIDAE)

Adult male short-tailed shrews, Blarina brevicauda, (Insectivora: Sori cidae) were trapped in Virginia and Pennsylvania, anesthetized, and pe rfused via the left ventricle of the heart with fixative. The submandi bular glands were dissected free and prepared for transmission electro n microscopy. The lobular, compound tubuloacinar glands had secretory endpieces consisting of seromucous acini and serous tubules connected to intercalated ducts, granular ducts, striated ducts, and excretory d ucts. The general cytology of the submandibular gland of Blarina share d morphological characters with individuals in several other mammalian orders and yet differed in many ways from another Insectivore, the Eu ropean hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus.