134 



THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



tance, for the purpose of catching insects. As 

 soon as this has been accomplished, these 

 muscles being suddenly relaxed, another set of 

 fibres, passing in front of the anterior portion of 

 the cartilages nearly parallel to them, are thrown 

 into action, and as suddenly retract the tongue 

 into the mouth, with the insect adhering to its 

 barbed extremity. This muscular effort is, how- 

 ever, very materially assisted by the long and 

 tortuous course of these arched cartilages, which 

 are nearly as elastic as steel springs, and effect 

 a considerable saving of muscular poM^er.* This 

 was the more necessary, because, while the bird 

 is on the tree, it repeats these motions almost 

 incessantly, boring holes in the bark, and pick- 

 ing up the minutest insects, with the utmost 

 celerity and precision. On meeting with an ant- 

 hill, the woodpecker easily lays it open by the 

 combined efforts of its feet and bill, and soon 

 makes a plentiful meal of the ants and their 

 eggs. 



Among the Mammalia which have no teeth, 

 the Myrmecophaga, or Ant-eater, practises a re- 

 markable manoeuvre for catching its prey. The 

 tongue of this animal is very long and slender, 

 and has a great resemblance to an earth-worm : 

 that of the two-toed ant-eater is very nearly 

 one-third of the length of the whole body ; and 



* An account ot" this uiechanism is given by Mr. Waller, in 

 the Phil. Trans, lor 171(S, p, 509. 



