HOW ANIMALS EAT 



255 



a firm hold, bores its way into the flesh by means of its 

 sawlike tongue. But fishes are usually well provided 

 with teeth, which, being sharp and curving inward, are 

 strictly prehensile. The fins and tongue are not prehen- 

 sile. A mouth with horny jaws, as in the turtles, or 

 bristling with teeth, as in the crocodile, is the only 

 means possessed by nearly all amphibians and reptiles 

 for securing food. The toad, frog, and chameleon cap- 

 ture insects by darting out the tongue, which is tipped 

 with glutinous saliva. The constricting serpents (boas) 

 crush their prey in their coils before swallowing ; and 

 the venomous snakes have poison fangs. No reptile 

 has prehensile lips. All birds use their toothless beaks 

 in procuring food, but birds of 

 prey also seize with their tal- 

 ons, and woodpeckers, hum- 

 mers, and parrots with their 

 tongues. The beak varies 

 greatly in shape, being a hook 

 in the eagle, a probe in the 

 woodpecker, and a shovel in 

 the duck. 



Among the quadrupeds we 

 find a few special contrivances, 

 as the trunk of the elephant, 

 and the long tongues of the 

 giraffe and ant-eater; but, as 

 a rule, the teeth are the chief 

 organs of prehension, 'always FIG. 2 i 7 . A of the 

 aided more or less by the lips. Monkey (Ateles} ' 



Ruminants, like the ox, having hoofs on their feet, 

 and no upper front teeth, employ the lips and tongue. 

 Such as can stand erect on the hind legs, as the 

 squirrel, bear, and kangaroo, use the front limbs for 

 holding the food and bringing it to the mouth, but 



