62 plint's natural history. [Book XI. 



they are known as ololygones. 54 This happens at stated periods 

 of the year, at which the males invite the females for the 

 purposes of propagation : letting down the lower lip to the 

 surface of the water, they receive a small portion of it in the 

 mouth, and then, by quavering with the tongue, make a gur- 

 gling noise, from which the croaking is produced which we 

 hear. In making this noise, the folds of the mouth, becoming 

 distended, are quite transparent, and the eyes start from the 

 head and burn again with the effort. Those insects which 

 have a sting in the lower part of the body, have teeth, and a 

 tongue as well ; with bees it is of considerable length, and in 

 the grasshopper it is very prominent. Those insects which have 

 a fistulous sting in the mouth, have neither tongue nor teeth ; 

 while others, again, have a tongue in the interior of the mouth, 

 the ant, for instance. In the elephant the tongue is remark- 

 ably broad ; and while with all other animals, each according 

 to its kind, it is always perfectly at liberty, with man, and 

 him alone, it is often found so strongly tied down by certain 

 veins, that it becomes necessary to cut them. "We find it 

 stated that the pontiff Metellus had a tongue so ill adapted for 

 articulation, that he is generally supposed to have voluntarily 

 submitted to torture for many months, while preparing to 

 pronounce the speech which he was about, to make on the de- 

 dication of the temple of Opifera. 55 In most persons the 

 tongue is able to articulate with distinctness at about the 

 seventh year ; and many know how to employ it with such re- 

 markable skill, as to be able to imitate the voices of various 

 birds and other animals with the greatest exactness. The other 

 animals have the sense of taste centred in the fore-part of the 

 tongue ; but in man it is situate in the palate as well. 



CHAP. 66. THE TONSILS ; THE UVA ; THE EPIGLOSSIS ; THE 



ARTERY ; THE GULLET. 



In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue ; these in 

 swine are called the glandules. The uvula, 56 which is suspended 

 between them at the extremity of the palate, is found only 

 in man. Beneath this lies a smaller tongue, known by the 



54 "Criers." 



55 One of the titles of the goddess Fortuna. 



56 " Uva," or " grape." 



