TONGUE OF THE WOODPECKER. 



99 



that the eye can scarcely follow them. This remarkable 

 mechanism is delineated in Fig. 271, which represents the 

 head of the woodpecker, with the skin removed, and tlie 

 parts dissected. The tongue itself (t) is a slender sharj)- 

 pointed horny cylinder, having its extremity (b) beset with 

 barbs, of which the points are directed backwards: it is sup- 

 ported on a slender 0.9 Hyoides, or lingual bone, to the 

 ])Osterior end of which the extremities of two very long and 

 narrow cartilaginous processes are articulated.* The one 

 on the right side is shown in the figure, nearly in the whole 



extent of its course, at c, d, e, f, and a small portion of the 

 left cartilage is seen at l. The two cartilages form, at their 

 junction with the tongue, a very acute angle, slightly di- 

 verging as they proceed backwards; until, bending down- 

 wards (at c,) they pass obliquely round the sides of the 

 neck, connected by a membrane (m;) then, being again in- 

 flected upwards, they converge towards the back of the 

 head, where they meet, and, being enclosed in a common 

 sheath, are conducted together along a groove, whicli ex- 

 tends forwards, along the middle line of the cranium (e,) 

 till it arrives between the eyes. From this point, the groove 



* Tl\cse cartilages correspond in situation, at the part, at least, where they 

 are jouied to the os hyoklcs, to what arc called the curnuUy or horns of that 

 bone, ui other annuals. 



