24 METHODS OF INSECT LIFE. 



A ijerfcct insect has a head and body ; the body is 

 divided into the fore and the hinder body. When the 

 insect has its full number of limbs the fore body (or 

 thorax) bears, or is borne, by three pairs of legs and 

 two pairs of wings ; the hinder body {abdomen) contains 

 a large part of the intestines and other organs of diges- 

 tion, and those of reproduction. The head is distinct 

 from the body, and has a pair of horns {antenna) ; and 

 (for the most part) eyes. These are compound and 

 simple eyes. The compound eyes are formed of a large 

 number of lenses or facets, forming together an immov- 



FiG. 21. — Hornet Clear-wing. 



able mass, sometimes occupying nearly the whole of 

 each side of the head. The simple eyes are each a single 

 lens. These are little specks placed on the crown of the 

 head, or thereabouts, and are very few in number ; I 

 am not aware that there are ever more than three, 

 and some insects are without them. The mouth and 

 feeding apparatus, though it looks so different in 

 different insects, is considered to be made up of the 

 same six parts in all. These are an upper and an 

 under lip, and two pairs of jaws, which in the biting 

 insects work from side to side (laterally, not vertically) 

 between the hps. The upper pair of jaws {mandibles) 

 is often strong and horny ; the lower pair, or " feeler " 

 jaws {maxlll(e), takes its name from having feelers 

 {palpi), as has also the lower lip. These parts of the 

 mouth vary very much in shape, as we may see in 

 the trunk of a Moth, or the proboscis of a Fly ; but 



