What is this hose coming off the air intake?

I was looking under the hood today and found a boot had torn apart. There is a hard line that comes off the air intake, down to the front drivers side of the motor. In this pic, you can see an approx. 1/4" hard line coming down the right side of the pic, then turning along the bottom of the pic into the boot.
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae210/dborns/hose2.jpg
It then ends in a 90* boot on a plastic nip**e on the front of the motor. The boot has torn and the end was open.
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae210/dborns/hose1.jpg
I haven't noticed any difference in how it runs, but I need to figure out what it is so I can order the right part. I'm assuming its something to do with PCV or something.
Thanks

That's a PCV hose. Replace that asap. You're letting unfiltered air into your engine.

So I called the dealership and was told that it would be $40 for the boot because the hard line comes with it. I passed on that great deal and tried to repair the old boot with some rubber cement. The repair worked and I actually ran it like that since I first posted this. Yesterday, as I was looking through my spare nuts/ bolts, I found a spark plug boot from an MSD kit that I didn't use. Looking at it I noticed it was a perfect fit for the hoses. One end is large which fits right on the n****e on the motor and the other is the exact diameter of the hard line hose. It worked perfect. I can grab a pic if anyone cares to see the fix.