BOOK XI. Lxv. 172-174 



to madness when their saUva gets through to the 



blood. We have spoken " of the tongues of the 



purple-fishes. In frogs the tip of the tongue is 



attached but the inner part is loose from the throat ; 



it is with this that the males croak, at the time when 



they are called croakers ; this happens at a fixed 



season, when they are calUng the females to mate. 



In this process they just drop the lower Up and take 



into the throat a moderate amount of water and let 



the tongue vibrate in it so as to make it undulate, 



and a croaking sound is forced out ; during this 



the curves of the cheeks are distended and become 



transparent, and the eyes stand out blazing with 



the exertion. Creatures with stings in their hinder 



part have teeth and a tongue as well, bees even a 



very long tongue, and cicalas also a projecting one; 



but those with a tubular sting in the mouth have 



neither tongue nor teeth. Some insects have a 



tongue inside the mouth, for instance ants ; more- 



over, the elephant's tongue also is particularly little 



visible. With the rest of the animals according to 



their kind the tongue is always quite free, but with 



man alone it is often so tightly bound by veins ^* 



that they have to be cut. We find it recorded stammerini 



that the High Priest Metellus was so tongue-tied 



that he is beUeved to have suffered torture for 



many months while practising the formula to be 



spoken in dedicating the Temple of Wealth ; but 



in all other cases of stammering the patient usually 



contrives to speak distinctly after reaching the age 



of six. Many people on the other hand are en- 



dowed with such skill in using the tongue that they 



can give imitations of the cries of birds and animals 



that are indistinguishable from the real thing. 



541 



