1837.] On the " Indian Boa," " Python Tigris:* 529 



This, at first sight may appear to be for the purpose of lubricating 

 the feathers or the hair of the prey, but it is in reality nothing more 

 than feeling the way and ascertaining where the head lies. 



It appears to me by no means improbable that the tongue in ser- 

 pents is rendered highly sensitive, and may be deemed in a great 

 measure the organ of touch or feeling, by which it is enabled to assist 

 the senses of sight and smell, and so in some degree be considered 

 analogous to the antennae of insects*. 



I am led to this belief by observing how constantly the tongue is 

 darted out and brandished, as it were, whenever the reptile is in mo- 

 tion or at all disturbed. 



When I offered water to the Indian Boas, of which they are very 

 fond, they invariably darted out the tongue rapidly and repeatedly as 

 they moved along, and seemed to feel the pan all round with it, dart- 

 ing it over the edge several times until it touched the water, when 

 they immediately raised their heads, and gliding forwards dipped the 

 nose fairly into it, and drank by long draughts. 



The body in serpents is by no means so callous to the sense of 

 feeling, as the hard protecting armour in which they are encased, 

 would perhaps lead one to suppose ; I have seen them shrink from a 

 very slight touch. This sensitiveness, however, would net enable 

 them to distinguish different objects, were they not furnished with 

 some organ adapted for that purpose ; that organ I suppose to be 

 the tongue. 



As the Boa swallows its prey the parts as they descend become 

 thickly coated with glutinous saliva, but this is derived from the 

 inside of the mouth and throat, as the prey is drawn in, and not 

 from any previous lubrication, as may be seen by taking away the 

 object from the snake, when it will be perceived that those parts 

 which were in the throat and jaws, are slimy, while the remainder is 

 quite free from saliva. 



They always endeavour to seize their prey by the head, but it not 

 unfrequently happens that in making the spring, their destined vic- 



* Last year, (1836), I dipped a feather into spirits of turpentine, and then 

 held it near the antennae of a stag-beetle which was crawling along the table ; 

 the insect immediately withdrew the antennae, and turned away. I repeated this 

 several times, and always with the same result. 



Another beetle very common at Simla during the rains and which appears 

 to be the Scarabceus Phorbanta of Oliver's insects, showed a much stronger 

 aversion to the smell of the turpentine, withdrawing the antennae even while the 

 feather was at some distance, and bending down its head. This would plainly 

 indicate the sense of smell to be in the antennae ? 



