As to those oviparous and sanguineous animals that live not in the
air but on the earth, their tongue in most cases is tied down and
hard, and is therefore useless for vocal purposes; in the serpents,
however, and in the lizards it is long and forked, so as to be
suited for the perception of savours. So long indeed is this part in
serpents, that though small while in the mouth it can be protruded
to a great distance. In these animals it is forked and has a fine
and hair-like extremity, because of their great liking for dainty
food. For by this arrangement they derive a twofold pleasure from
savours, their gustatory sensation being as it were doubled.
Even some bloodless animals have an organ that serves for the
perception of savours; and in sanguineous animals such an organ is
invariably variably For even in such of these as would seem to an
ordinary observer to have nothing of the kind, some of the fishes
for example, there is a kind of shabby representative of a tongue,
much like what exists in river crocodiles. In most of these cases
the apparent absence of the part can be rationally explained on some
ground or other. For in the first place the interior of the mouth in
animals of this character is invariably spinous. Secondly, in water
animals there is but short space of time for the perception of
savours, and as the use of this sense is thus of short duration,
shortened also is the separate part which subserves it.
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