TONGUE OF THE ANT-EATER, 121 



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, ai!brd- 

 ing the means of a quick retraction, as well as 

 lateral motion ; while its elongation and other move- 

 ments are eifected by circular fibres, which are ex- 

 terior 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 minute- 

 ness, they require no mastication, they are swal- 

 lowed undivided, and without there being any ne- 

 cessity for teeth. 



The lips of quadrupeds are often elongated for 

 the more ready prehension of food, as we see exem- 

 plified in the Rhinoceros, whose upper lip is so ex- 

 tensible as to be capable of performing the office of 

 a small proboscis. The Sorex moschatus, or musk 

 shrew, whose favourite food is leeches, has like- 

 wise a very moveable snout, by which it gropes for, 

 and seizes its prey from the bottom of the mud. 

 More frequently, however, this office of prehension 

 is performed by the tongue, which, for that pur- 

 pose, is very flexible and much elongated ; as we 

 see in the Camelopard, where it acts like a hand 

 in grasping and bringing down the branches of a 

 tree.* 



In the animals belonging to the genus Felis, the 

 papillae in the fore part of the tongue are each 

 armed with a horny sheath terminating in a sharp 

 point, which is directed backwards, so as to detain 

 the food, and prevent its escape. These prickles 



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



