STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF BIEDS 



seen in the Trichoglossinge (see fig. 6), named so on account 

 of the very structure, and in the Nectariniidse, &c. Very 

 frequently the tongue is more or less spiny upon its surface, 



particularly towards the attached end 

 of the organ. A very singular modi- 

 fication is the extraordinarily long 

 tongue of the woodpeckers, w r hich 

 is, of course, associated with the ex- 

 traction of grubs from the crevices in 

 trees. A detailed description of the 

 numerous forms of this organ would 

 occupy more space than can be allow r ed ; 

 but the principal varieties will be 

 found described under the different 

 families. The modifications of the 

 tongue are not of great assistance to 



FIG. 5. A, LOWER MANDI- 

 BLE OF INDIAN DARTER. 

 t, KUDIMENTARY TONGUE. 



7? Trwr-r-r TV P^r FlG - 6. HEAD OF LoriUS, SHOWING 



-D, J.ONGUE IN PROFILE. m / r< .-mmn\ 



WITH BRUSH TIP (AFTER GARROD). 



the taxonomist, except as regards smaller groups. Thus 

 the Plataleidae have been distinguished from other Herodiones 

 as ' Lipoglossae.' 



Teeth are not met with in living birds. KOSE, however, 

 has discovered what he believes to be a rudimentary tooth 

 band (' Zahnleiste ') in Sterna, 1 a discovery which may have 



This has been recently confirmed by Miss CARLSSON (' Ueber die Schmelz- 

 leiste bei Sterna hirundo,' Anat. Anz xii. 72), who found it to characterise both 

 jaws. For other embryonic traces of teeth see P. FHAISSE, ' Uber Ziihne u. Zahn- 



