About the fifth month there begins a multiplication of the cells in the germinative layer of the epithelium covering the tongue, which marks the beginning of the taste buds. At the eighth month the development has advanced so far that the gustatory cells can be distinguished from the supporting cells, and the whole taste bud has separated itself somewhat from the surrounding tissue. The nerve fibrils found in the fully developed taste bud come into connection with the gustatory cells very early in their history—in fact, the presence of the fibrils is considered by some authorities as the stimulus to modification of the epithelial cells into those special forms and the consequent formation of the taste buds. At birth the most essential parts of the taste mechanism seem to be fully developed and able to function. The taste buds and the taste pores by which they communicate with the tongue surface have the same structure as in the adult. The papillæ, however, according to Stahr, have not attained the adult form. From an examination of the tongues of a large number of newborn babies he reports that the foliate and the circumvallate papillæ are not complete, the depression surrounding the latter being broken in places and one papilla not clearly distinguished from others. The fungiform type, too, does not at this stage resemble a toadstool, as it does in the adult, but they are more like very large filiform papillæ. Microscopical examination shows both of these types of papillæ to carry their taste buds on the top, rather than far down upon their sides. In no case did Stahr find a fungiform papilla without one or more taste buds. The distribution of the taste buds over the surface of the mouth cavity of the fetus and the newborn, as determined by histological examination and experiment, is very extensive, as compared with the adult. The presence of taste buds and of taste sensitivity has been reported upon the arches of the palate, over the whole dorsal surface of the tongue, and the inside of the cheeks. Buds are especially numerous upon the tip of the tongue. _Development of Taste in Infancy and Childhood_ After birth certain changes occur in the taste organs. During the whole period of lactation the tip of the tongue remains especially sensitive to sweet stimuli, a valuable condition for the promotion of the food-taking reactions in the infant. During this period also the whole superior surface of the tongue remains sensitive to taste stimuli, but with increasing age there appears a region of insensitivity just back of the sensitive tip. At the same time there is said to be an increasing sensitivity upon the edges of the tongue.