In a few birds special touch and taste perception can be supplied by the edge and point of the beak. In the skin of birds are found numerous sensory nerve endings for tactile sense. The sensory nerves, which provide the sense of touch, usually terminate in one of two forms. The first are the Herbst’s bodies, which in many respects are similar to the Picinian bodies. Herbst’s _touch corpuscles_ are found on all parts of the skin; they are especially numerous in the region of the tail and of the wing. In the wing they are particularly numerous in the region of the flight feathers. They occur in large numbers in the periosteum of the anterior tibial region and in the mucous membrane of the cloaca and of the generative organs. They are numerous in the conjunctiva and on the surface of the tongue. They are also found in the gums and in the beak. Herbst’s corpuscle is made up of a central fiber-shaped part with a smooth extension of the axis cylinder of its nerve (Fig. 29, _G_). This central fiber is surrounded by a peculiar protoplasmic body. Outside of this there is a double row of cubical cells which surround the axial part. These are close together. Outside of these there occurs a concentric lamellar layer, which contains cells. In the periphery these lamellæ become more distinct and contain larger but fewer cells. The capsule is made up of very thin layers, which are continued into the perineural layer. Each body contains a thin outer zone. The nerve fiber passes in a regular manner from the axis cylinder, the myelemma, and the sheath of Schwann, and as a delicate nerve twig is surrounded by a sheath consisting of several perineural layers. As it enters the center of the touch corpuscle, it loses its myeline sheath near the base of the body, and the terminal fiber becomes flattened. Its rim is directed toward the two rows of cubical cells, and it ends in a rounded knob. The touch corpuscles are the largest in the mucous membrane of the cloaca and smallest in the skin. Hess has found these touch corpuscles in the large filiform papillæ on the side of the tongue and a few on its lower surface. They are also found in the soft skin of the edges and inner borders of the beak. STRUCTURE OF APPENDAGES