384 FRANCIS DARWIN, 
On the Structure of the Prososcis of Ophideres fullonica, an 
OranGe-suckinG Morn. By Francis Darwin, M.B. 
Ir must be premised that the fact of some Lepidoptera 
piercing vegetable tissues for the purpose of obtaining the 
juices is not a new one. In his ‘ Fertilisation of Orchids’ 
my father shows that the lining membrane of the nectaries 
of certain orchids are bored through in this way. Moreover, 
Mr. R. Trimen informed my father that, at the Cape of Good 
Hope, a great deal of fruit is thus injured by Lepidoptera.’ 
I owe the material on which the following observations 
were made to the kindness of Mons. Anthelm Thozet, of 
Rockhampton, Queensland. A few dried specimens of 
Ophideres fullonica were sent by him to my father, together 
with his interesting account, published in a Queensland paper, 
of the injuries caused by the moth to the oranges in that part 
of Australia. 
The antlia or proboscis of Lepidopterous insects is well 
known to be composed of the transformed maxille; each of 
these is channelled along its internal face, and the two demi- 
canals fit closely together, and form a complete channel or 
tube traversing the proboscis from end to end. Fig. 3 is a 
transverse section of the proboscis, ch being the channel, 
tr the large trachea, which run one in each half of the organ. 
The intrinsic muscles of the maxille which surround the 
tracheee are here omitted. 
The proboscis, of which only the distal portion is represented 
in Figs. 1 and 2, measured *72 inch in length; the wings 
of the moth to which it belonged were too much broken for 
measurement, but a larger specimen gave a width of four 
inches from tip to tip of the extended wings, and had a pro- 
boscis *74 inch in length. 
The convex border of Fig. 1 represents in profile, the out- 
line of the dorsal aspect of the proboscis ; the concave border 
gives that of the ventral aspect. The saw-like or cutting 
portion of the proboscis—(i. e. from its tip to the barbs (0, 
constant temperature of about 38°5°C. After three days the rosy color- 
ation had entirely disappeared and the fluid remained colourless also 
afterwards, although an abundant floccular sediment has made its ap- 
pearance. 
1 Since making the observation here recorded, I have seen a note on the 
structure of the proboscis of Ophideres fullonica by M. Kinckel (‘ Comptes 
Rendus,’ Aug. 30, 1875). It contains excellent drawings of the organ, 
together with a short description of it. 
