264 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 171 6. 



duced, yet she complained of very little or no pain, which may seem very 

 extraordinary. It is observable that the fracture is not only oblique, near the 

 neck of the bone; but that each trochanter, i. e. the two processes near its 

 cervix, are likewise broken short off; and that they were both drawn up almost 

 as high as the head of the bone itself, by the strong contraction of the glutaei 

 and other muscles. 



An Account of a Booky viz. Dtssertatio de Dea Salute^ in qua illius SutH' 



bola, Templa, Statuce, Nummi, Inscriptiones exhibentur, illustrantur, Auc^ 



tore Guilhelmo Musgrave, G. F. h Coll. Exon. Oxonii : Typis Leon. Lich- 



Jield: Impensis Phil. Yeo, Bibliopolce Exon. Anno 1716. N° 349, p. 502. 



Observations on some of the Primary Planets, and particularly the Occultation 

 of a fixed Star by Jupiter. By the Rev. James Pound, F. R. S, N° 350, 

 p. 6O6. 



These partial observations can be of no use now that we possess the con- 

 tinued series of the British and the continental astronomers, and the theories 

 and tables of the planets deduced from them. 



A Description of that curious natural Machine, the fVood-Peckers Tongue, &c. 



By Richard JValler, Esq. late Sec. to the Royal Society. N° 350, p. 50g. 



The picus martins, or wood-pecker, has several particulars in the structure 

 and mechanism of its whole body, which may deserve an accurate observation 

 and description: all which are wisely contrived and adapted, either for catching 

 the food and sustenance of the individual, or continuing the species. He 

 makes a round hole even in sound and hard trees, such as the oak, horn- beam, 

 beech, and the like; where, the hollow being enlarged, the nest is made, the 

 eggs laid and hatched, and the young brood fed, as by other birds. 



For this purpose, that he may be enabled to perform such hard work, the 

 muscles of the neck, breast, and thighs, are exceedingly strong, in proportion 

 to the size of the bird: he has also a very firm strong sharp bill; his legs are 

 strengthened with very strong tendons ; and his toes, which are two before 

 and two behind, are provided with sharp strong hooked claws or talons: besides 

 this, his tail consists of 10 very stiff large and strong quills, firmly set into a 

 robust strong uropygium or rump; so that when he has fastened his claws and 

 feet into the clefts and inequalities of the bark of the tree, he claps his strong 

 tail-feathers against the body of the tree; and so stands with his head erect, 

 to give the strokes with his bill with the greater force. 



This bird is known to throw out a long, slender, round tongue, to a con- 



