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Snakes are typically carnivorous, and many of them are furnished with powerful poison fangs. The tongue is forked, can be rapidly protruded and retracted, and is an efficient sense organ. Upon it and the well-developed nostrils the snakes largely depend, for neither sight nor hearing is very acute. There are no eyelids, the eyes being covered over by a transparent convex scale. The whole skin is covered with scales, which are folds of the epidermis, continuous with one another. In consequence, when the snake casts its coat—which occurs several times in the year—it casts it in one piece, this being a complete replica of the snake.