NaCl solutions were flowed over the anterolateral region of the tongue of laboratory albino rats to determine the effects of stimulus flow duration upon muitiunit chorda tympani nerve responses. Fifty-five msec flow duration ‘artificial licks’ delivered 5μl, while 2000 msec flow duration stimuli delivered 650μl. Resonses were summated, A/D converted, and averaged, with time to stimulus presentation onset, ± 1 msec, as trigger. It was found that the latency and slope of the initial segment of the phasic response were independent of flow duration, but they changed systematically with NaCl concentration. Slope of both premaximum and postmaximum response was insensitive to flow duration. In contrast, the magnitude and duration of all segments of the phasic response were dependent upon both stimulus flow duration and concentration. The final rising slope of the phasic response, and the maximum response magnitude attained, were smaller, and were reached sooner, for the shorter flow, lick-duration stimuli. All maximum magnitudes to lick-duration stimuli occurred 170 msec or less after stimulus on-set. This is similar to the interval between actual licks. The contribution to the observed response differences of total number of fungiform papillae stimulated, total number of receptor sites available, and rate of stimulus spread, was estimated.