OF INSECTS. 135 



tion of the intestine/' says Burmeister, speaking of 

 that part which corresponds to what we have called 

 after the French physiologists, the small intestine, 

 " is to he determined from its divisional distance from 

 the stomach, it must be considered as the true ilium, 

 which is however contradicted by its function, which, 

 like that of the caecum of the glires of the mammalia, 

 subjects the food to a second digestion and extraction 

 before it is rejected. We are convinced of this by 

 the comparison of its state in the stomach, and in 

 this portion of the canal, for we find it here much 

 more pappy than there, but not so viscous as in the 

 colon."* 



The Ccecum (PL II. fig. 2#.) is that portion of the 

 canal, behind the small gut, where the unassimilated 

 parts of the alimentary substances, now completely 

 deprived of their nutricious particles, begin to acquire 

 a hard consistency, previous to their expulsion by the 

 rectum. It is generally a direct continuation of the 

 small intestine, but it is divided from it by a valve, 

 which completely shuts up the opening. In some 

 cases, however, the intestine is united to its side, and 

 it forms a large ovoid vessel, as in Dytiscus Rosselii, 

 and allied species. The external surface is frequently 

 covered with papillae, and the internal, particularly 

 near the mouth of the small gut, with glandular warts, 

 which are supposed to secrete a fluid to assist in the 

 expulsion of the fecal matter. This segment of the 

 canal is usually short, but it varies too much to admit 



* Manual of Entom. ; Shuckhard's Trans. 139. 



