Chap. 65.] 
THE TOKGUE. 
61 
teeth there is a certain venom ; for if they are placed uncovered 
before a mirror, they will tarnish its brightness, and they will 
kill young pigeons while yet unfledged. The other parti- 
culars relative to the teeth have been already*"^ mentioned 
under the head of the generation of man. When teething 
first commences, the bodies of infants are subject to certain 
maladies. Those animals which have serrated teeth inflict the 
most dangerous bites.^^ 
CHAP. 65. THE TONGUE ; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO 
TONGUE. THE NOISE MADE BY TKOGS. THE PALATE. 
The tongue is not similarly formed in all animals. Ser- 
pents have a very thin tongue, and three-forked,^^ which they 
vibrate to and fro : it is of a black colour, and when drawn 
from out of the mouth, of extraordinary length. The tongue 
of the lizard is two-forked, and covered with hair.^^ That of 
the sea-calf also is twofold, but with the serpents it is of the 
thinness of a hair ; the other animals employ it to lick the 
parts around the mouth. Pishes have nearly the whole of the 
tongue adhering to the palate, while in the crocodile the whole 
of it does adhere thereto : but in the aquatic animals the palate, 
which is fleshy, performs the duty of the tongue as the organ 
of taste. In lions, pards, and all the animals of that class, 
and in cats as well, the tongue is covered with asperities,^^ 
which overlap each other, and bear a strong resemblance to a 
rasp. Such being its formation, if the animal licks a man's skin, 
it will wear it away by making it thinner and thinner ; for 
w^hich reason it is that the saliva of even a perfectly tame 
animal, being thus introduced to the close vicinity of the blood, 
is apt 4o bring on madness. Of the tongue of the purple we 
have made mention*^ already. With the frog the end of the 
tongue adheres to the mouth, while the inner part is disjoined 
from the sides of the gullet ; and it is by this means that the 
males give utterance to their croaking, at the season at which 
B. viii. c. 15. 
" Ssevissima dentibus," seems to be a preferable reading to ^' saevissime 
dentiunt.'* Only two-forked in reality. 
^0 It is not covered with liair. 
5^ It is not bifurcate. 
^'^ These are hornv, conical papillce, the smnmits of which point back- 
wards. " ^3 gee B. ix. c. 60. 
