Sharon pennington, age 12, of charleston, w. Va., for her question:

How does a snake use his tongue?

The snake is a mysterious animal with his own way of doing things. For this reason, some peop1e feel that he is a sneaky character, and one of the things about him they fear most is his forked tongue. It turns out, however, that mr. Mystery's strange tongue is quite harmless.

As he slithers through the grass, the streamlined snake flicks his tongue from side to side and darts it in and out of his mouth. This gesture alone is enough to make a person suspicious. What's more, the end of the long thin tongue divides into two prongs  it is a forked tongue. This fact made even the American Indians suspicious, and they were very wise in the ways of nature.

When they accused someone of having a forked tongue, they meant that he was a sneaky twister of the truth.

The snake, of course, does not use his tongue to twist the truth. Nor, as some people suspect, is it a stinger. In fact, it is not at all dangerous to us, but it is very useful to the snake.

We are used to the idea that a snake has no legs. In spite of this handicap, he manages to get around easily, fast and very gracefully. Most of us do not know that his sense organs also are quite different from ours. In spite of these differences, he manages to sense the sights and scents and many of the sounds that go on in the world around him.

His big mouth opens to reveal the very unusual lining of his lower jaw. In the center is the opening to the windpipe. Extending forward from this opening is the whip like tongue that ends in two prongs. His nostrils are on top of his head near the front of his upper jaw. These organs of sme11 are connected to a second pair of organs of smell in the roof of his mouth.

The sense of smell is very important to the snake. He has a reliable nose, plus the pair of secondary sniffers in the roof of his mouth. These inside cavities are ca11ed jacobson's organs and his tongue works with them. Each time it flicks out it gathers fine particles from the air and samples of dusty debris from the surroundings. Each time it darts back into his mouth, these samples are transferred to his jacob son's organs that analyse their sme11 and perhaps also their flavor.

The snake sees fairly well, but he has no organs for hearing. However, his whole body is always c1ose to the ground and it is highly sensitive to ground vibrations. This is why he can detect approaching footsteps and other sounds. His mouth also has cells that are sensitive to heat and cold.  This talent helps him detect the presence and the exact location of his warm blooded victims.