1 1 2 SNAKES. 



' The prey is then prepared for being swallowed, which the 

 creature accomplished by pushing the limbs into the most 

 convenient position, and then covering the surface with a 

 glutinous saliva! Though not positively asserted that the 

 tongue is the agent in this * covering,' the reader naturally 

 jumps to this conclusion. The 'Penny' and several other 

 encyclopedias quote the M'Leod story, among them the 

 Encyclopedia Britafinica, ed. 1856, notwithstanding the 

 compiler of the article * Reptilia ' affirms, ' The use of the 

 tongue is not exactly known.' Surely this licking over 

 an enormous mass of fur or wool, each time the reptile 

 partakes of food, would be a very important use indeed 

 of the tongue, did such a process take place. 



Mr. Philip Henry Gosse, in his Natural History of Reptiles, 

 i860, repeats the M'Leod story; but he follows it up by 

 also quoting a writer, Broderip, who carefully considered the 

 subject, and who doubted the possibility of such a tongue 

 performing this office. 



Mr. Gosse is one of the most popular of our 'drawing- 

 room' naturalists. A careful and conscientious writer, he 

 has contributed in his various works a great deal of valu- 

 able information, and has done as much, if not more, towards 

 inducing a taste for natural history than any other author 

 of his day and class. 



Another popular anecdote much used is that of Sir R. 

 Ker Porter, who {cir. 1820-24) sent an anaconda to the United 

 Service Museum, accompanied by an account of its seizing 

 its prey. * In an instant every bone is broken, and the long, 

 fleshy tongue passes over the entire form of the lifeless beast, 

 leaving on it a sort of glutinous saliva which greatly facilitates 



