12 THE BITING MOUTH. 



the maxillary palpi^ wliich however they resemble in 

 other respects. Such is the normal structure of the 

 mouth of an insect. 



But it has already been stated that in many insects 

 the mouth is solely adapted for the consumption of 

 fluid nutriment; such are the gay butterflies that 

 flutter in the bright sunshine from one flower to 

 another, — the moths that take their place when the 

 shades of evening cover the earth, — the flies, whose 

 presence in om' apartments is so unwelcome, — the 

 gnats that attack us so remorselessly in our evening 

 walks, — and the bug, whose nocturnal inroads have 

 broken the slumber of many a weary traveller. And 

 these are only well-known examples of a host of in- 

 sects, which all agree in the possession of a suctorial 

 apparatus at the mouth, — a multitude which probably 

 equals in number those in which the organs of the 

 mouth present their regular masticating arrangement. 

 Unfortunately, however, for the brevity of this part 

 of our story, this is the only point in which all these 

 creatures agree ; the animals all live by suction indeed, 

 but how different are the substances upon which they 

 feed, and, as we might expect, how different are the 

 modes in which their structure has been modified by 

 the moulding hand of Nature, to suit each for its 

 peculiar functions ! Few things could furnish the 

 natural theologian with a better proof of design in 

 nature than the investigation of the course adopted in 

 the modification of the same parts, which we have 

 just seen in the form of powerful biting organs, to 

 form the agents of a suctorial existence ; nor is our 

 admiration in any degree lessened by the considera- 

 tion that many of the creatures in which these phie- 

 nomena are to be witnessed are so small as almost to 



