The mental scale, or mental, in snakes and other scaled reptiles refers to the median plate on the tip of the lower jaw. It is a triangular scale that corresponds to the rostral of the upper jaw. The reference to the term 'mental' comes from the mental nerve which addresses the chin and lower jaw in animals. In snakes, the shape and size of this scale is sometimes one of the characteristics used to differentiate species from one another.
Read more about Mental Scale: Related Scales
Famous quotes containing the words mental and/or scale:
“What a man calls his “conscience” is merely the mental action that follows a sentimental reaction after too much wine or love.”
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950)
“I own I never really warmed
To the reformer or reformed.
And yet conversion has its place
Not halfway down the scale of grace.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)