in anatomy, a part of the face, consisting of the lips, the gums, the infoldings of the cheeks, the palate, the salivary glands, the os hyoides, the uvula, and the tonsils, which see under the article ANATOMY.

Mr Derham observes, that the mouth in the several species of animals is nicely adapted to the uses of such a part, and well fixed and shaped for the formation of speech, the gathering and receiving of food, the catching of prey, &c. In some creatures it is wide and large, in others little and narrow; in some it is formed with a deep incisure into the head, for the better catching and holding of prey, and more easy commination of hard, large, and troublesome food; and in others with a shorter incisure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous food. In birds it is neatly shaped for piercing the air; hard and horny, to supply the want of teeth; hooked, in the rapacious kind, to catch and hold their prey; long and slender in those that have their food to grope for in moorish places; and broad and long in those that search for it in the mud. Nor is the mouth less remarkable in insects; in some it is forcipated, to catch, hold, and tear the prey; in others aculeated, to pierce and wound animals, and suck their blood; in others, strongly rigid, with jaws and teeth, to gnaw and scrape out their food, carry burdens, perforate the earth, nay the hardest wood, and even stones themselves, for houses and nests for their young.