118 COMPARISONS OF STRUCTURE IN ANIMALS. 



for evident reasons, this sense is far more re- 

 fined than in others ; and that in none, perhaps, 

 it is more discriminating than in the flamingo 

 and duck tribe. 



"With respect to reptiles, the sense of touch, 

 as contradistinguished from mere feeUng, is 

 scarcely possessed by any. Indeed, feeling 

 itself is much more obtuse in these cold- 

 blooded vertebrata, than in quadrupeds or 

 birds ; their tenacity of life is wonderful, and 

 they bear almost with impunity injuries which 

 would instantly kill one of the higher animals : a 

 tortoise, for example, Avill move for days after 

 being deprived of its head, and it is only by slow 

 degrees that the irritability of the muscles ceases. 



To these animals a dehcate, or even tolera- 

 bly developed sense of touch would be no 

 benefit, and we cannot bring ourselves to 

 agree with the opinion of a learned writer who 

 says, " Serpents, from the great flexibility of 

 their spine, are capable of grasping and twining 

 round objects of almost any shape, and of 

 taking, as it were, their exact measure. This 

 conibrmation must be exceedingly favourable 

 to the acquisition of correct perceptions of 

 touch. As it is these perceptions which lay 

 the foundation of the most perfect acquaintance 



