THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 123 



that it is formed with the two spear-like points. It is 

 clothed with a delicate skin.' ^ 



Lenz made many interesting experiments. In his 

 work he gives us the result of these, and also what 

 some other German ophiologists had seen and done. He 

 observed how entirely the snake trusted to its tongue in 

 any unusual circumstances ; the all-important member was 

 then in ceaseless activity. Confined in a glass jar con- 

 taining wine or any liquid that the snake did not like, 

 the tongue was ever agitated. Crawling up the side, the 

 tongue was in constant request to feel the glass (as may 

 be often seen at the Zoological Gardens) ; and on arriving 

 at the top, the head was turned this way and that, and 

 then bent over the edge, as if to make certain that no 

 further obstacle existed ; the tongue not for one instant 

 quiet, but exse-ted sometimes as far forward as the whole 

 length of the head, telling to its owner all that the other 

 senses could not discover. 



Permitting it to touch his hand, he felt it like the sweep 

 of a thread, so light and delicate. Too fine and flexible 

 to injure any surface, the slightest touch of one or both 

 the tips suffices for intelligence. Nay, sometimes without 

 even touching — that is, without positive contact, but by 

 some subtle sense, it seems to act as guide. 



When the snake is excited by fear or alarm, or when in 

 a strange place, the activity of the tongue is so great, the 

 vibrations are so rapid, that the eye cannot follow them. 

 It is like the play of electricity. 



So far from participating in deglutition, the snake with- 



' Tome vi. p. lOO q{ Erpctologie gcnerale. 



