REPTILES. 



portions in the cameleon ; an internal long and flendcr one, 

 infcrted in the body of the os hyoides ; an external broader 

 and itronger, contiguous to the former, and attached to the 

 poderior cornua in their whole length : it has an attachment 

 alfp to the anterior cornua. 



In the ophidians the genio-hyoidei are continuous behind 

 with the cofto-hyoidei. They are only obferved in thofc 

 whofe tongue is not inclofed in a Iheath. 



The genio-hyojdei arc divided bihind into two portions, 

 in the batracians. The external and fliorteft is inferted on 

 the fide of the hyoideal plate above its edge ; the internal is 

 prolonged on the pollerior cornua, and furniflics a flieath 

 to the hyogloflus. The fterno-hyoideus penetrates between 

 thefe two portions, to be fixed to the plate. 



6. The cerato-maxillary mufclcs. Tliefe are analogous 

 in their attachments and ufe to the conical mufcles of the 

 OS hyoides in birds : they only differ from them in not being 

 turned round the cornua. They are found in the three firft 

 orders, but do not exift in the batracians. They arife from 

 the pollerior third of the internal furface of the branches of 

 the lower jaw, and proceed backwards and inwards to the 

 pollerior cornua of the os hyoides. There arc two on each 

 fide, attached to the four cornua, in the iguana. This 

 animal has, moreover, a tranfverfe mufcle of the cornua, 

 the fibres of which go obliquely outwards from the anterior 

 to the pollerior cornu of the fame fide. 



In the agame umbra the laft mufcle is long and (lender, 

 continued from the extremity of the pollerior cornu to the 

 angle of the anterior. 



In the chelonians, the cerato-maxillary are inferted into 

 the extremities of the anterior cornua. 



The tongue varies confiderably in this clafs of animals : it 

 is employed, in many inftances, as the means of procuring 

 their food, by thofe reptiles which feed on infefts. But as 

 none of this clafs mafticate their aliment, or fwallow it like 

 the mammalia, the form of the organ is very different from 

 that which it exhibits in the mammiferous animals. 



The chelonians have a fmall pyramidal tongue, with the 

 bafis turned backwards, the apex forwards. 



A larg'j part of the faurians and ophidians have a tongue 

 capable of confiderable elongation. The moll remarkable 

 example occurs in the cameleon, where it is not larger than 

 a quill, but five or fix inches long : it is expanded at its ex- 

 tremity, which is covered with a vifcous fecretion. This 

 weapon lies commonly in a Iheath at the bottom of the 

 mouth, contracted to the length of about an inch, or lefs. 

 The animal can dart it out at pleafure, when the vifcous 

 fluid at its end entangles the prey, which is taken into the 

 mouth with great celerity. " Quand les cameleons veulent 

 manger," fays Belon, " ils tirent leur langue, quafi d'un 

 demipied, ronde comme la langue d'un oifeau nomme pic- 

 vferd, femblable a un verre de terre ; et a I'extremite d'icelle 

 ont un gros noei'd fpongieux, tenant comme glu, duquel ils 

 attachent les infeftes, favoir ell fauterelles, chenilles & 

 mouches, et les attirent en la gueule. Ils pouffent hors 

 leur langue, la dardant de roideur auffi vitement qu'un 

 arbalete ou un arc fait le traift." Pierre Belon, Obferva- 

 tions, &c. liv. ii. ch. 34. 



In the common lizards, the tupinambes, &c. the tongue 

 is fmooth, extenfile, and terminated by two long flexible 

 points, although femi-cartilaginous and nearly horny : it 

 refembles perfeftly that of the ophidians, excepting the 

 anguis and amphiftaena, and perhaps alfo the caecilia, which 

 have it flat, and merely forked at the end, without the 

 power of elongating it. 



In moll of the ferpents, the tongue, when contrafted, is 

 contained almolt entirely in a membranous (heath. The 

 Vol. XXIX. 



mcchanifm belonging to thcfc projeClilc tongues partakes 

 both of that which is found in fome mammalia, as the 

 echidna and the ant-eaters, and of that of birds. (See 

 Mammalia and Birds, in Comparative y/nalmny.) It de- 

 pends on mufcles afting on the os hyoides, and alfo on the 

 mufcles of the tongue. 



The llellios and iguanas have a flelliy tongue, villous on 

 Its furface, and puffeding about the fame mobility as that 

 of the mammalia. In the fcinks and geckos it differs from 

 the former only in being fiffured .it the end ; and it re- 

 fembles, in this refpcdt, that of the angues, between which 

 and the fcinks there is in all points much analogy. 



The tongue of the batracians is not only different from 

 that of other reptiles, but alfo from that of other animals. 

 It is flelhy, of a flattened figure, fmooth, and covered, 

 in all of the frog and toad kind, with a tenacious mucus. 

 It is villous in the falamanders, and covered with very long 

 papillae in the horned frog (bufi) cornutus, rana cornuta, 

 Linn.). The great peculiarity of the tongue is its being 

 attached by the bafis to the front of the mouth, to the 

 fympJiyfis of the lower jaw. This is its ihickell part : it is 

 continued backwards in a thinner form, fo as to end in two 

 loofc and flat portions, reprefenting the apex, and lying in 

 the back of the mouth. This loofe part, ordinarily turned 

 back towards the throat, is projefted from tlio mouth, co- 

 vered by its vifcous fecretion, upon the fmall infefts which 

 the animal feeds on, and which are thus entangled and fwal- 

 lowed. 



Mufcles of the Tongue. — They pofl'efs nothing peculiar in 

 the chelonian reptiles, which have not an extenfile tongue : 

 they conllfi: merely of two pairs. The hyogloffi come from 

 tke anterior half of the pollerior cornua, and penetrate into 

 the tongue at the fides of the bafis. 



The genio-gloffi are very fl:rong and broad in the vertical 

 diredlion : they come from the front of the lower jaw, 

 and enter the tongue more outwards and forwards than the 

 preceding, with which their fibres are interwoven. The 

 apex of the hyoid cartilage penetrates between them : they 

 are alfo feparated by a fmall cylindrical cartilage, to which 

 each mufcle is fixed ; which is prolonged behind under the 

 body of the hyoid cartilage, extending in front to the apex 

 of the tongue. 



The faurians have in general three pairs of mufcles 

 going to the tongue from the os hyoides or the arch of the 

 chin, and a proper mufcle attached to the organ only. 



I . The hyogloffus comes from the cornua of the hyoid 

 cartilage. In the common iguana it is attached to the pof- 

 terior cornua, oppofite the omohyoideus. In the gecko fim- 

 briatus it is fixed to the middle of the cornua, at the fide 

 and within the cerato-maxillaris ; it forms, with the llraight 

 genio-gloflus, the bafis of the tongue, and mixes its fibres 

 with thbfe of the proper mufcle. The hyogloflus is long 

 and cylindrical in the lizards and tupinambis : it comes 

 from the extremity of the pollerior cornua, approaches the 

 oppoiitc mufcle as it advances forwards, becomes contiguous 

 to it at the bafis of the organ, towards the extremity of 

 which it terminates in forming the two portions of cylinders, 

 of which this tongue confifts. In the cameleon it is fixed 

 to the whole anterior edge of the pollerior cornua, and is 

 very thick at that part. Beyond the angle formed by the 

 two cornua of the fame fide, it is curved and continued 

 direftly forwards. The fafciculi of fibres, of which it con- 

 fills, are inferted in the pollerior half of the (heath of the 

 tongue, which it ferves to draw backwards. 



2. The llraight genio-glofli come from the inferior 



edge of the arch of the chin, and are continued to the bafis 



4Y of 



