62 
PLINY's IS'ATURAL HTSTOHY. 
[Book XIl 
they are known as ololygones.^^ This happens at stated periods 
of the year, at which the males invite the females for the 
purposes of propagation : letting down the lower lip to the 
surface of the water, they receive a small portion of it in the 
mouth, and then, by quavering with the tongue, make a gur- 
gling noise, from which the croaking is produced which we 
hear. In making this noise, the folds of the mouth, becoming 
distended, are quite transparent, and the eyes start from the: 
head and burn again with the effort. Those insects which 
have a sting in the lower part of the body, have teeth, and a 
tongue as well ; with bees it is of considerable length, and in 
the grasshopper it is very prominent. Those insects which have 
a fistulous sting in the mouth, have neither tongue nor teeth ; 
while others, again, have a tongue in the interior of the mouth, 
the ant, for instance. In the elephant the tongue is remark- 
ably broad ; and while with all other animals, each according 
to its kind, it is always perfectly at liberty', with man, and 
him alone, it is often found so strongly tied down by certain 
veins, that it becomes necessary to cut them. We find it 
stated that the pontiff Metellus had a tongue so ill adapted for 
articulation, that he is generally supposed to have voluntarily 
submitted to torture for many months, while preparing to 
pronounce the speech which he was about to make on the de- 
dication of the temple of Opifera.^^ In most persons the 
tongue is able to articulate with distinctness at about the 
seventh year ; and many know how to employ it with such re- 
markable skill, as to be able to imitate the voices of various 
birds and other animals with the greatest exactness. The other 
animals have the sense of taste centred in the fore-part of the 
tongue ; but in man it is situate in the palate as well. ^ 
CHAP. 66. THE TONSILS *, THE UVA ; THE EPIGLOSSIS ; THE 
ARTEHY ; THE GULLET. 
In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue ; these in 
swine are called the glandules. The uvula, w^hich is suspended 
between them at the extremity of the palate, is found only 
in man. Eeneath this lies a smaller tongue, known by the 
5^ "Criers." 
One of the titles of the goddess Fortuna. 
" Uva," or " grape." 
