THE FEEDING MECHANISM OF ADULT LEPIDOPTERA 



By JOHN B. SCHMITT 



Assistant Entomologist, New Jersey Agricultural 



Experiment Station, Netv Brtmsivick 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction I 



I. General structure of the head and mouthparts 2 



II. The proboscis 5 



Structure and musculature 5 



Mechanism of coiling and extension 8 



Comparative structure in lepidopterous families 8 



III. The sucking pump 16 



Generalized structure 17 



Pump of lepidoptera 18 



Mechanism 20 



Comparative structure in lepidopterous families 20 



IV. The labium 24 



V. Summary 26 



Abbreviations used on the figures 27 



References 28 



INTRODUCTION 



The mechanism of the feeding apparatus of moths and butterflies has 

 been studied by a number of anatomists since Reamur and Latreille, 

 but the exact means by which the proboscis is extended has not been 

 determined, and it is this problem with which this paper is chiefly con- 

 cerned. The morphology of the sucking pump has also engaged the 

 writer's attention, as have various other parts of the lepidopterous 

 head. 



The literature is not extensive and (as the general information on 

 the head is contained in most textbooks) there is little need except for 

 historical purposes to review the contributions previous to the work of 

 Burgess (1880) who was the first worker to describe correctly the 

 muscles within the proboscis. Kirbach (1883) wrote on the sucking 

 pump of Vanessa io and also on the muscles within the proboscis. In 

 1890 Burgess published further information on the structure of the 

 head of the milkweed butterfly, followed by Kellogg (1893) on the 

 same subject. In 1895 Kellogg showed that the pilifers are labral lobes 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol.97, No. 4 



