Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-07-21

nous whenever the creature opens it's
mouth, and it is through these that the
venom Is infused In the victims blood.
/ The pythons and boas show no such Ions,
fangs. for they have no venom to inject.
| In these the teeth lie in two rows in the
upper jaw, ana IN one row only in the
! lower These teeth, it will be noticed,
point back toward the throat. and it is
/ for this reason that snakes are often un-
able Immediately 10 relinquish their hold
Of any prey them may have seized. This
and not greed, as some of the newspapers
| alleged at the time, accounted for the ac-
cdent at the geological gardens, when
Two pytnons, working at opposite ends OF
| the same food met in the middle and
| tine larger had to swallow the smaller.
The teeth of fishes cover as rule, not
only both jaws, but likewise the tongue
and palate In the sharks and rays we
find supplementary rows of teeth ready TO
| replace those in front when use shall
have worn them down. or accident rem
dered them useless; and in some OF the
| rays, notably in the th0rnback. the teeih
of the male are sharp and pointed. while
| those of the female are blunt and fiat.
! l MS may or may not indicate tnat tlc
| male feeds on fishes and the female on
| shellfish; but such at any rate are the
| respective diets assigned to such types OF
| teeth in the world of waters. In those
| fish. as the mulets and surgeons. that
| eat soft food. the teeth are either quite
| feeble or altogether wanting.
| The tongue. which we chiefly associate
with taste and speech, is largely used
| III ltetlIS ny certain classes OF dliltiiiS
| Not to any great extent do the quadru-
peds avail themselves of its aid, though
the great ant-cater thrusts its long ana
Shiny tongue among the ants. having hrst
| torn away the sides of their hills with
| claws SO powerful that Bates regarded
| them as fully capable Of maulinS Jag
| uar. Those who have seen the ant-eaterS
| in the sloth's house at the zoo may have
noticed that these animals walk practi-
| c1lly their heels. The vampire bat.
again, uses its rough-tipped tongue III
| emptying certain fruits of their PUPPY
| contents, and the giraffe uses the same
organ in stripping the acacia branches OF
| their leaves. Visitors to menageries, in
which the siraffes have an open air pad
| easily see a kind of high water mark
on the denuded branches, showing the
| highest point to which even the tall gi-
| rlffe could reach.
| II will usually be found that as a sort
| Of compensation. mammals having such
! uAusual deveiopment Of tongue have a
/ curr"sp spouuInsts poor equipment Of teeth
Nor, except in :, lew groups, Is lne
tongue cCnspiCuouSly useful in birds our
own wood reckers show, perhaps, the
| most wonderful piece of mechanism from
| Natures Workshop, Il tongue OF great
| length. packed away at the back OF the
head, Coiling and uncoiling with the loicc
| of a spira. spring, barbed and sticky al
the tip. What a terrible searcher of the
grubs that lurk behind the tree bark. IN
a couple of woodpeckers from North
| America, species that chiefly feed on the
| sweet apple sap, this complicated appa-
| ratuS is dispensed with. The brush tongue
| of the lores is of course associated with
the process of sucking nectar from deer
flowers, and | have already remarked on
the presence OF such tongue in the kea
and on the possibility of its falling, now
that it is no longer needed, into disuse.
In fishes the tongue is probably at its
lowest stage OF activity. but in reptiles
and amphibans, on the other hand, 1t
seems to play a more consistently useful
part than in animals OF any other classes,
we no longer suspect the forked tongue
| of poisonous Serpents of singing. nor
do we believe that the pythons lick THEN
victims in order to make them easier T.
swallow whole. We do, however, as
sumo that the tongue acqualnts the
snake with the fitness or otherwise foi
food of the things with which it comes
i'll contact and toads and frogs actuallS
capture their insect food with theli
tongues. Most wonderful of all, however
is the tongue of the chameleon, and one
of the most singular sights of many al
the zoo is the chameleon on the Iced. a
rolling first one eye. then the other
grasning is perch more tightly in its
strange hand-like feet. the chameleon
catches the mealWorms or black beetles
presented to it by the keeper with d
lightning rapidity that dehes all bus the
fastest shutters in the photographer
outfit. 50 remarkable is the whole bust
ness that visitors forget to look tor thC
| creature s change OF color that tney caInt
purpOSely to see.
! The hand is, as might be expected. OF
less Importance to the lower animals lhar
| to man. In the ma jority of birds, witt
| such exceptions as parrots and some 9th
| erS. the beak combines the functions oil
mouth and hands. The eagles claw Is 9
symbol of strength ana says q good dea
| for the character of its owner, while the
| head of the ourang-outanS. more human
and less rapaciouS looking, is, according
to Dr. Wallace able t. tear omen tht
hardest fruits of the Malayan region
Still more remarkable is the. "attcnuatcd
| Ix,ri-. tl-n called