TONGUE.
Most of the herbivorous mammalia, par ticularly among the bisulca, have their tongue covered with a firm and thick cuti cular coat, which forms numberless point ed papillae, directed backwards. These must assist, according to their consistence and direction, at least in the animals of this country, in tearing up the grass. Animals of the cat kind have their tongue covered with sharp and strong prickles, which must enable the animal to take a firm hold. Similar pointed processes are found in some other animals ; as in the bat kind, and the opossum.
There seems to be no doubt, that in all the mammalia which we have now con sidered, the tongue is an organ of taste, at least towards its anterior part.
The toothless animals, on the contrary, as the ant-eater and manis, which swallow their aliment whole, have a worm-like tongue, which is obviously capable of no other use than that of taking their food.
The tongue of the woodpecker has a very singular structure, which admits of its being darted out of the mouth for some inches : It is used for the purpose of catching insects, and is horny and barbed at its extremity. In the frog and
chameleon, the tongue is also the organ by which the prey is seized. in the for mer animal it is long, soft, and covered with a glutinous slime. In the quiescent state it lies from before backwards in the mouth, from which it is darted at the prey, consisting of insects, which become entangled by the viscid fluid. The tongue of the chameleon displays a very curious mechanism. It is contained in a sheath at the lower part of the mouth ; and has its extremity covered with a glutinous se cretion. It admits of being projected to the length of six inches, and is used in this manner by the animal in catching its food, which consists of flies, &c. It is darted from the mouth with wonderful celerity and precision, and the viscous se cretion on its extremity entangles the small animals which constitute the food of the chameleon.