IO 



INSECT TRANSFORMATION 



biting mandibles (Fig. 3 Mnd) the foremost of the three pairs of 

 limbs associated with the grasshopper's mouth and modified 

 as jaws. The mandible is a stout, hollow, sub-conical piece 

 of chitin with sharp teeth near the apex and a ridged grinding 

 area near the base on the inner face, so arranged as to work 

 with the corresponding structures on the opposite mandible, 

 and thus to cut and grind the insect's food. The mandibles 



FIG. 3. JAWS OF A WEST AFRICAN LOCUST 



Mnd, mandible ; c, condyle. Hyp, tongue with maxillulae (mxl). 

 MX, maxilla ; c, cardo ; st, stipes ; I, lacinia ; g, galea ; p, palp. 

 L, labium ; cm, cuticle of neck ; sm, sub-mentum ; m, mentum ; 

 /, lacinia ; g, galea ; p, palp, x 6. 



articulate with the head skeleton so that they can be made to 

 clash together through the action of adductor, or can be drawn 

 apart through the action of abductor muscles. 



Behind the mandibles are situated the maxillae (Fig. 3 MX), 

 a pair of limbs at once more delicate and more complex than 

 the mandibles, though, like those, modified to assist in feeding. 

 In the grasshopper each maxilla has a three-segmented base 

 formed of two larger sclerites, the cardo and the stipes (Fig^ 3, 



