61 1 



behold ! Eyes there are, big and little , antenna; or horns ;_ mouth with jaws above and jaws 

 below, pairs of feelers or palpi, perhaps a sucker, or possibly a set of lancets ; instruments for 

 observation, instruments of ilef'euce, instruments for t;iking food, all grouped together in a vcrj 

 small space, and constructed in the most wonderful variety of wuys. Compare a few insectsof dif- 

 ferent orders together, and the wonder is still greater. Look at the head of the large Pine- 

 borer beetle, with its powerful jaws and antenna' twice the length of its body, then at the 

 Dragon-fly with its scarcely perceptible antenna;, but with eyes that almost surround it; look 

 again at a large Hawk-niotb, with its beautiful fcathcr-likc antennae, and its coiled up sucker 

 that will unr. 11 to more than the length of its great body ; now turn to a grasshopper, a fly, 

 or a bug and see what a change — what a variation of organs is to be seen ! To recount all 

 these differences of form, structure, size, colour, clothing, etc., would occupy volumes, without 

 even saying a word about their objects and offices. AVemust be content, then, with consider- 

 ing the organs as they are common to all, and only observe, for the pr< sent, the variations 

 that distingnish the several grand orders of insects, leaving out of sight the minor differences 

 that are peculiar to species, genera, or even families. 



The Hiad of an insect -to come to particulars — is a hard, somewhat rounded skull ; 

 having an o;iening in front for the mouth and its group of organs, On each side it has a 

 fixed, immoveable eye, of large size and complex structure, between which are sometimes two, 

 or often three, tiny little eyes, each consisting of a single lens. Close to the large eyes are two 

 moveable jointed organs, called antennae, of endless variety of form, size and structure, 

 whose exact uses have long been a puzzle to naturalists. 'J he front part of the head is often 

 separated by a seam from the rest of the skull (especially in Beetles), and is then called the 

 C/i/peus or shield ; this part often bears a horn or knobs. The under surface of the hitad is 

 called the throat, and is divided into various parts, each with its particular name, in the dif- 

 ferent orders of insects. The head is connected behind with the thorax, sometimes by a verj 

 slender neck, sometimes by a barely perceptible division. 



The onhiiis of the mouth, though varying very much in form, are yet constructed on one 

 principle They consist of six principal organs, two on each side of the opening, one above, 

 and one below. The upper one is the upper lip (lalinnn), the 1 wer the under lip ; the upper 

 pair of side organs are the upper jaws or mandibles; the lower pair themarilkr or lower jaws: 

 Each of the lower jaws has attached to it one, or two, jointed organs or feelers, called jjalpi, 

 and the under lip has also a pair of these feelers. The jaws, it should be noticed, move side- 

 ways, not up and down. There arc two princiji.al modes in which the food obtaining organs 

 are employed, the operation of which is vastly different, and ctuses an enormous change in 

 form and structure. When the ^-ide pieces of the mouth are short, apart from each other, 

 and have a horizontal motion, the action produced is liitliir/, as in a beetle ; but when these 

 Bide [lieces !.re elongated, pressed close to each other, and have a longitudinal motion, the action 

 produced is sudcinti, as in a butterfly. According to these modes of action, insects are divided 

 into two f^rand classes, called in English, Bilius; Insects and Suctorial Insects ; any classifica- 

 tiun based upon this difference, must, however, be confined to insects in their perfect form 

 eince caterpillars, for instance, have jaws for biting, wliich are transformed into a spiral 

 sucking tube when the insect becomes a moth or butterfly. 



In IJitinn IiiJ^ect.s the upper lip is a flat plate closing the mouth above ; the upper pair of 

 jaws IT mandibles arc of a hard, horny consistency, and are furnished with teeth for biting 

 and gnawing the food ; these teeth are portions of the jaw itself, not separate in .any way. 

 The lower pair of jaws or maxilla;, are modified in many ways which it would be tedious to 

 particularize here ; and the lower lip is still more compli;atcd, and subj-ot to great variations. 

 In bees, the lower jaws and lip form together a sucking apparatus, while the form of the upper 

 biting jaws causes them to be included among the biting insects. The accompanying largo 

 wood-cut, (Fig. 50) of a highly m ignified bi;etie, exhibits all the various parts of the mouth of 

 a biting insect, as well as the legs, abdomen and other parts of the under surface. The 

 clearucBS of the illustration renders much description superfluous. 



