SOME HYOID HINTS. IW 



mouth with its tongue, the worm's slightest 

 movement is telegraphed through the tongue 

 to the sensitive membrane of the nasal cavity, 

 and so to the brain. 



In this connection it may be interesting to 

 note that Colaptes, in taking food by pecking 

 in the ground, rarely needs to thrust its 

 tongue out very far, as from the nature of the 

 case the prey must be reached by the bill be- 

 fore it is captured. Indeed careful observa- 

 tion has led me to feel quite sure that it is 

 by the touch of the tongue, and the conse- 

 quent impression conveyed to the brain 

 through the hyoid apparatus, that Colaptes 

 distinguishes a grub from a plant-bulb, or a 

 worm from a soft root, as he delves in the soil 

 for his daily food. By an almost precisely 

 similar, though less roundabout way, the 

 woodcock and the snipe, the duck and the 

 goose, distinguish edible from inedible sub- 

 stances buried under mud and water, where 

 neither sight nor the sense of smell, as com- 

 monly defined, can be trusted. 



The hyoid cornua of the humming-bird curls 

 up over the back of the skull, but the tongue 

 is hollow and sensitive, so that the gustatory 

 power is probably fairly well developed, and 

 there is no need of any secondary connection 

 of the organ with the brain ; besides, the hum- 

 ming-bird doubtless uses its eyes in selecting 

 its food. 



