no SNAKES. 



tongue does for its owner ; and we shall, as I hope, see 

 before we have done with it, that so far from exciting our 

 hatred and disgust, there is perhaps no other feature or 

 organ belonging to the helpless snake so important to it, 

 so worthy of our own observation and admiration, as this 

 much-abused tongue. 



We have an admirable opportunity for study in our visits 

 to the Zoological Gardens, and there the lover of nature 

 can decide for himself. Hours and hours has one watched, 

 and I admit (in the early days of my studies) waited, to see 

 this lubrication which, as the books told me, was performed 

 by the tongue. Often and often one has heard visitors say 

 to each other when they have seen the prey about to be 

 devoured, ' Now we shall see, or you will see ' (as the case 

 might be) * the snake lick it all over before he swallows it.' 



An observation to this effect was once made in our hearing 

 while I was on the point of asking the keeper if he had ever 

 observed anything of the kind, and was telling him how 

 often it had been so stated in print. 



* Snakes never did, and never will, lick their prey, 

 ma'am,' returned Holland emphatically; 'but I have seen 

 the saliva flow, it is so plentiful.' And so have I, and so 

 may you, patient reader, if you are sufficiently interested in 

 the subject. You will soon become convinced that such a 

 process as 'licking' is impossible, and you will soon decide 

 that if the reptile did this instinctively, its tongue would 

 have developed into something more like that of a cat, 

 strong and rough with tiny spines, or some organ better 

 adapted to the performance than a thin pencil or fork of 

 tender flesh. 



