152 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



acting as a kind of antenna or feeler. A similar but less deve- 

 loped structure is found in the tongue of the frugivorous Touraco. 

 In the Woodpeckers the apex of the horny sheath, fig. 74, 77, 

 a, gives off at the sides short pointed processes directed back- 

 ward, converting it into a barbed instrument for holding fast the 



insects which its sharp point 

 has transfixed, after the 

 strong beak has dislodged 

 them from their hidino* 

 places. The cornua (thyro- 

 hyals, ib. 46, 47) mnd round 

 the back of the head, and 

 converge as they pass for- 

 ward to be inserted in a 

 canal generally on the right side of the upper mandible, ib. e. 

 The tongue of the Flamingo is almost cylindrical, slightly flat- 

 tened above, and obliquely truncate anteriorly, so as to corre- 

 spond with the form of the inferior mandible. The pointed 



Cranium and tongue of a Woodpecker. 



Tongue A. Snipe. B. Fieldfare. C. Kingfisher. D. Goose. CCXL*. 



extremity of the truncated part is supported beneath by a small 

 horny plate. Along the middle of the upper surface there is a 

 moderately deep and wide longitudinal furrow ; on either side of 

 which there are from twenty to twenty-five recurved spines, from 

 one to three lines in length. These spines are arranged in an 



