ii6 SNAKES. 



' It is a very general belief that the sting of a poisonous 

 snake is in its tongue,' says this writer, ' and to any one who 

 has seen an adder ready for attack, with its body coiled, its 

 head and neck reared aloft, and its long, narrow tongue, 

 split for a considerable distance from the point inwards, 

 and thus resembling a two-pronged fork, vibrating rapidly, 

 accompanied by a hissing sound, the needle-like points of 

 the tongue have a decidedly stinging aspect. It need hardly 

 be said that the tongue is only responsible for the hissing.' 

 The hissing is from the lungs (see chap, ix.), and, as may be 

 repeated, often while the tongue is within its sheath, the 

 opening of which is forward in the mouth. 



The tongue of a snake occupies much the same place in 

 the lower jaw as that of other animals ; only being, while 

 passive, within its sheath, which opens at the tip, the tongue 

 can move but in one direction, nd.vi\t\y,forwai'ds. 



The illustration in the Leisure Hour which accompanies^ 

 the above writer's explanation, displays a rattlesnake with 

 widely-extended jaws, and a tongue which, by comparison, 

 must be from root to tip half a foot in length, and repre- 

 sented as coming from far back in the throat, as if no sheath 

 existed. 



The tongue of a snake not being so planted, and not by 

 any possibility intercepting the breath, it is needless to 

 repeat that it can never be any agent of the voice, i.e, 

 * hissing,' nor is it every snake that does hiss (see chap. ix.). 

 Illustrations conveying an entirely erroneous impression 

 are very much to be regretted, and unfortunately this mis- 

 placing of the snake's tongue is an extremely common error, 

 and we recognise the familiar woodcut again and again in a 



