394 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



far behind. In common with them, a vast number 

 (the orders Coieoptera, Ilj/menoptera, and Orthoptera, 

 and the larvas of Lepidoptera, some Diptera, &c.) are 

 furnished with jaws, but of very different constructions, 

 and all admirably adapted for their intended services : 

 some sharp, and armed with spines and branches for 

 tearing flesh; others hooked for seizing, and at the 

 same time hollow for suction ; some calculated like 

 shears for gnawing leaves; others more resembling 

 grindstones, of a strength and solidity sufficient to re- 

 duce the hardest wood : and this singularity attends 

 the major part of these insects, that they possess in fact 

 two pairs of jaws, an upper and an under pair, both 

 placed horizontally, not vertically, the former appa- 

 rently in most cases for the seizure and mastication of 

 their prey; the latter, when hooked, for retaining and 

 tearing, while the upper comminute it previously to its 

 being swallowed'*. 



To the remainder of the class of insects, a mighty 

 host, jaws would have been useless. Their refined li- 

 quid food requires instruments of a different construc- 

 tion, and with these they are profusely furnished. The 

 innumerable tribes of moths and butterflies eat nothing 

 but the honey secreted in the nectaries of flowers, which 

 are frequently situated at the bottom of a tube of great 

 length. They are accordingly provided with an or- 

 gan exquisitely fitted for its office — a slender tubular 

 tongue, more or less long, sometimes not shorter than 

 three inches, but spirally convoluted when at rest, like 

 the main spring of a watch, into a convenient compass. 

 This tongue, which they have the power of instantly 



» Plate VI. Fig. 4, 5. 10, 1 1. 24—26. 



