TONGUE OF THE ANT-EATER. 135 



at its base is scarcely thicker than a crow-quill. 

 It is furnished with a long and powerful muscle, 

 which arises from the sternum, and is continued 

 into its substance, affording the means of a quick 

 retraction, as well as lateral motion ; while its 

 elongation and other movements are effected by 

 circular fibres, which are exterior to the former. 

 When laid on the ground in the usual track of 

 ants, it is soon covered with these insects, and 

 being suddenly retracted, transfers them into 

 the mouth ; and as, from their minuteness, they 

 require no mastication, they are swallowed un- 

 divided, and without there being any necessity 

 for teeth. 



The lips of quadrupeds are often elongated for 

 the more ready prehension of food, as we see 

 exemplified in the Rhinoceros, whose upper lip 

 is so extensible as to be capable of performing 

 the office of a small proboscis. The Sorex 

 moschatus, or musk shrew, whose favourite food 

 is leeches, has likewise a very moveable snout, 

 by which it gropes for, and seizes its prey from 

 the bottom of the mud. More frequently, how- 

 ever, this office of prehension is performed by 

 the tongue, which for that purpose is very 

 flexible and much elongated ; as we see in the 

 Camelopard, where it acts like a hand in grasp- 

 ing and bringing down the branches of a 

 tree.* 



* Home, Lectures, &c. vi. Plate 32. 



