Abstract
1. 1. Histological structure of the respiratory tract of the desert wood rat ( Neotoma lepida), the kangaroo rat ( Dipodomys merriami) and the antelope ground squirrel ( Ammospermophilus leucurus) was studied and compared to that of the laboratory white rat ( Rattus norvegicus). 2. 2. Tracheal diameter differed among the species, where the largest diameter was for white rat and the smallest for the desert wood rat. Goblet cells were present in the white rat, absent in the kangaroo rat and few were present in the other two species. 3. 3. The bronchial tree walls were very thin in white rats, moderately thick in ground squirrels and kangaroo rats and thick in the wood rats. Macrophages were found in large numbers in the kangaroo rat, in moderate numbers in the white rat and ground squirrel and were few in number in the wood rat. 4. 4. With the exception of the antelope ground squirrel, a wide range of alveolar shapes and sizes was observed. The number of atria arising from each alveolar duct was least in the kangaroo rat and highest in the white rat. 5. 5. An attempt was made to correlate tracheal dimensions, atrial diameters and presence or absence of goblet cells and seromucous glands with certain physiological adaptations to life in the desert.
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