Questions for Ansivers 



117 



He has only molars or chewing teeth, and everything that is 

 brought to them must be conveyed by his trunk. Explain what 

 is meant by " biting teeth " and give their proper designation. 



(7) Of what animal is it true that if his nose were cut off 

 he would starve, and probably die ? If the elephant lost its 

 nose, that is, its trunk, it could not feed, since it has no biting 

 teeth, and its tusks would prevent its seizing objects with 

 widely open mouth. What expedients might an elephant 

 which had lost its trunk adopt ? 



(8) Does the elephant carry its tusks in its upper or lower 

 jaw, and what teeth do the tusks represent ? 



(9) If you had to prescribe for a sick crocodile, would 

 you ask him to put out his tongue? No; for he could 

 not do it. Why not ? His tongue is flattened and fixed in 

 the floor of his mouth. This explains, then, the tradition 

 that crocodiles have no tongue ? Yes ; and it may be observed 

 that crocodiles have no salivary glands, their mouths being 

 dry when out of water. Name other animals in which the 

 tongue is fixed, and others in which the tongue is dry. 



(10) In bats the skin is very loosely attached and some of 

 them (the genus Nyctevis) possess the power of inflating them- 

 selves with air. There is an opening in the cheek pouch which 

 permits the animal to blow air under its skin and to force it to 

 pass over almost the whole body, the skin being fixed only at 

 certain points. Under what law in physics does the bat which 

 thus makes itself a balloon gain an advantage ? (See Todd's 

 "Cyclo." I., 599). 



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