30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [NOvV. 23, 
November 23, 1891. 
STATED MEETING. 
Vice-President ALLEN in the chair. About forty persons present. 
The minutes of the previous meeting (November 16th) were 
read and approved. . 
Professor Trowbridge presented two sketches relating to animal 
mechanics, and illustrating a discovery by his son C. C. Trowbridge, 
connected with the mechanism by which certain birds secure their 
food by boring in soft ground. 
The sketches represent the head and bill of the Hudsonian 
Godwit. Sketch No, 1—the mandibles closed as in the act of bor- 
ing; and No. 2, the bill as in the act of seizing its food under 
ground. 
Professor Trowbridge stated that it is well known to naturalists 
and sportsmen that in the boring birds, such as the godwits, snipe, 
and woodcock, the upper mandible at its extremity is quite flexible, 
and may easily be bent upwards as shown in sketch No. 2. But 
that it has not been known, as far as he is aware, that this bending 
is also under the control of the bird, and is accomplished by certain 
muscles about the base of the mandibles; the muscles being con- 
