Rymer Jones, in his _Organization of the Animal Kingdom_, tells us that ‘in snakes the bulk of the tongue is reduced to the utmost extent. The whole organ seems converted into a slender, bifid instrument of touch, and is covered with a delicate membrane.’ Again, in Todd’s _Cyclopedia of Anatomy_, the same writer says that ‘the tongue of a snake seems to perform functions, the nature of which is not so obvious’ (as that of some other reptiles). Der Hœven (Clark’s translation) tells us ‘the tongue of a snake is an organ of feeling or tact, and much used, as the antennæ of insects.’ It will be observed that while no two of the above writers use precisely the same words, each helps us to picture the tongue more accurately, and we glean from each some new particular. The _Encyclopedia Britannica_, after telling us ‘the use of the tongue is not exactly known,’ adds, ‘they (the snakes) are continually lancing it into the air, and may possibly in this way gather moisture from grass or herbage’ (alluding to the question of ‘drinking,’ see chap. iv.). Professor Owen still further defines it as a pair of muscles, or a double muscle partly connected and partly free. The reader will prefer the learned Professor’s own words, notwithstanding the slight repetition. In his _Anatomy of the Vertebrates_, p. 463, after describing the prehensile character of the tongue in some reptiles, notably the toad and the chameleon, he says: ‘In serpents the tongue takes no other share in the prehension of food than by the degree in which it may assist in the art of drinking. It is very long, slender, cylindrical, protractile, consisting of a pair of muscular cylinders in close connection along the two basal thirds, but liberated from each other, and tapering each to a point at the anterior third; these are in constant vibration when the tongue is protruded, and are in great part withdrawn with the undivided body of the tongue into a sheath when the organ is retracted.’ The pair of parallel muscles can be distinguished in the largest of the accompanying illustrations, viz. the tongue of a Jamaica boa of about 8 feet long. It was cut out and given me immediately after the death of the reptile, and while soft and flexible was carefully copied. The hair-like points diminish to an almost invisible fineness impossible to represent with pen or pencil. The _slender_ little tongue is that of the young _Jararaca_; and the shortest is that of the African viperling. I have drawn only as much as is usually exserted when in use. The entire tongues are much longer, of a pale flesh tint, and somewhat thicker towards the root. It is observable that the organs, like their possessors, are either shorter and stouter, or longer and more slender. [Illustration: Three tongues from nature (exact size).] The reader will concur with Mr. P. H. Gosse and the _Penny Cyclopedia_, that ‘no instrument is less adapted for licking.’