72 Zoological Society : — 



gist whether he believed that the bones of birds contained air ; his 

 reply was, " Has a bird a brain?" 



Professor Owen, in the Lectures on Birds that he is now deliver- 

 ing at the Government School of Mines, as reported in • The Medical 

 Times and Gazette,' May 24, 1862, p. 537, says, — " In the swift 

 Humming-birds and in other birds of flight, the air permeates the 

 interior of every bone of the skeleton." 



Brisson and Lesson, as quoted by Sir W. Jardine, state that " the 

 tongue of the Humming-bird is composed of two muscular tubes, 

 joined together for the greater part of their length, towards the tip 

 broadened or swelling, and, according to Lesson, terminated in a 

 spoon-like point on the upper surface. They assist in retaining the 

 different substances, which are immediately conveyed to the opening 

 of the oesophagus by the contractility of the tubes." Sir W. Jardine 

 says that he has " confirmed this statement, as far as the examina- 

 tion of the moistened parts would allow." He adds, " Our own exa- 

 mination of the tongue of the Trochilus tnoschitus, relaxed with 

 warm water, gave the appearance of a fimbriated opening at the tip, 

 having the exterior margin of each fork set with recurved, sharp- 

 pointed, pliable spines, as if to assist its viscidity in securing any 

 substance seized by them." 



It is possible that in the different species of Trochilidce the 

 tongue, like the beak and tail-feathers, may differ somewhat ; but I 

 believe it will be found that the cylinders are not hollow, and that 

 the recurved spines spoken of by Sir W. Jardine are shreds of the 

 membranous part of the tongue detached by maceration. The some- 

 what feather-like tongue of these birds is probably used chiefly for 

 dipping into the nectar, and for detaching the small insects upon the 

 flowers, the rapid motion of the organ enabling the bird to obtain a 

 large supply of nourishment in a short time. 



The examination of recent specimens will be necessary to decide 

 the question as to the tubular character of the tongue ; but there is 

 one thing tolerably certain, viz. that the food of these birds is chiefly 

 insects, and does not consist of the nectar of flowers only, as was 

 formerly supposed. 



Nov. 11, 1862.— Professor Huxley, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Observations on the living Aye-aye in the Zoological 

 Gardens. By A. D. Bartlett. 



The subject of the following remarks is a fine adult female of the 

 Aye-aye {Chiromys madagascariensis), which arrived in this country 

 on the 12th of August last. On the voyage, this animal produced 

 a young one, which lived about ten days. On arriving here she was 

 in poor condition and very feeble ; she soon, however, began to feed 

 freely, and has now considerable strength, as is shown by the timber 

 destroyed in the cage in which she is kept. 



This animal is much blacker, and appears larger, than the male of 

 this species now in the British Museum ; the long hairs on the^back of 



