THE TONGUE OF BATS. 349 



alogous food; and as a considerable adhesiveness of this organ was 

 absolutely indispensable for the securing of the prey, the secretion 

 of a glutinous mucus destined to cover its surface has in every 

 case been amply provided for. Thus two enormous glands are 

 situated below the retractor muscles of the echidna's tongue, and 

 the base of that of the pengolin is surrounded by a gland 

 almost as long as the neck. This wonderful uniformity of 

 structure in animals not only separated from each other by 

 such vast tracts of sea and land, but belonging to different 

 orders and only resembling each other in their food, must 

 surely convince every one that they all proceed from the same 

 Master Hand ! 



The graceful giraffe is likewise provided with a very long ex- 

 tensile tongue, but for a very different purpose, as it is used to 

 grasp and hook down the branches of the prickly acacia or 

 camel's- thorn, which constitute the animal's chief food. The 

 better to lay hold of the tender shoots, the surface of this pre- 

 hensile organ is as rough as that of a rasp, while a glutinous 

 covering, like that of the ant-eater's tongue, would, moreover, 

 have been a great hindrance to the mastication of vegetable food. 

 Thus, wherever we look throughout the domains of Nature, we 

 find instances of an admirable prevision extending to the 

 minutest details, while there is not a single work of the human 

 hand so perfect but that a sharp critic's eye may not discover 

 numerous faults in its structure or conception ! 



In the phyllostomas, a tropical genus of bats, the tongue 

 presents a peculiarity which is worthy of being particularly noted. 

 It consists of a number of wartlike elevations, so arranged as to 

 form a complete circular suctorial disk when they are brought 

 into contact at their sides, which is done by means of a set of 

 muscular fibres having a tendon attached to each of the warts. 

 By means of this curious sucker these bats are enabled to suck 

 the blood of animals and the juice of succulent fruits, their little 

 sharp teeth having first made a slight incision in the skin or 

 rind they have selected for their operations. 



In some other tropical bats the horny tip of the long and 

 extensile tongue is provided with barbed bristles, probably for 

 the purpose of extracting the insects on which they feed out of 

 otherwise inaccessible crevices'. 



While grazing, the rough tongue of the ruminants presses the 



