B. T. LOWNE ON THE FLY's PROBOSCIS. 193 



Gleichen and myself, is probably from the stomach, which often 

 contains a considerable quantity, forced into it, it appears, by the 

 pharyngeal apparatus I have described. 



Two pair of cephalic nerves are distributed to the proboscis ; a 

 large pair arise from the underside of the cephalic ganglion, and 

 supply the lips and palpi, giving branches to the various muscles of 

 the organ ; a smaller pair arise higher up near that part of the 

 cephalic ganglion, which is perforated by the oesophagus. These 

 seem to correspond to the ordinary spinal bridles of insects, and 

 terminate in the ganglion at the back of the salivary duct. Near 

 the superior part of the pharynx they each send off a branch 

 which communicates with a small ganglion beneath the tesophagus, 

 from which filaments to the oesophagus and to the muscles of the 

 pharynx are given off. 



Dr. Braithwaite and Mr. Suffolk expressed their gratification 

 with the character of Mr. Lowne's paper, and their assent with the 

 conclusions therein arrived at ; and Mr. Suffolk pointed out the 

 paucity of published works on the subject, there being only four 

 existing. The Quekett Club had brought some of the workers to- 

 gether, who would not otherwise have been known to each other, 

 and some of whose labours might not otherwise have been recorded. 



The President asked Mr. Lowne why he called the organ of 

 which he had been speaking a salivary gland ? Saliva served two 

 purposes ; it softened the solid parts of the food during mastica- 

 tion, but the blow fly did not masticate its food. SaHva also effected 

 a chemical change in the food by converting starch into sugar, 

 but the blow fly does not feed upon substances which require to be 

 so acted upon. 



Mr, Lowne said that he had simply followed the words of Cuvier. 

 Although the fly does not masticate, yet it grinds the food, and 

 the fluid of which he had spoken answers the purpose of saliva 

 by helping to soften the hard substances on which it feeds. It 

 might be wiser to employ a different set of terms to designate 

 the organs of insects from those which are used in reference to 

 animals, but in so doing we should complicate nomenclature very 

 much. Further, as we know that this fluid is a secretion, that it is 

 carried into the alimentary canal, and that it serves to soften 

 the food, he thought he could not be far wrong in regarding it 

 as a saliwi. 



