68 



THE BEK-KKEPERS' GUIDE ' 



These mouth-parts are very variable in form in different 

 insects. In butterflies and moths, two-winged flies and bug's, 

 they are transformed into a tube, which in the last two groups 

 forms a hard, strong beak or piercer, well exemplified in the 

 mosquito and bedbug. In all the other insects we find them 

 much as in the bees, with the separate parts varying greatly 

 in form, to agree with the habits and character of their posses- 

 sors. No wonder DeGeer and Fabricius detected these varying 

 forms as strongly indicative of the nature of the insect, and 

 no wonder that by their use they were so successful in forming 

 a natural classification. 



If, as seems certain, the " Doctrine of Natural Selection " 

 is well founded, then a change in habit is the precursor of a 



Fig. 17. 



Microscope Mounted for Dissecting. — Original. 



change in structure. But what organs are so intimately 

 related to the habits of animals, as the mouth and other organs 

 that have to do with food-taking and food-getting ? 



Every bee-keeper will receive great benefit by dissecting 

 these parts and studying their form and relations for himself. 

 By getting his children interested in the same, he will have 

 conferred upon them one of the rarest of blessings. 



To dissect these parts, first remove the head and carefully 

 pin it to a cork, passing the pin through, well back between 

 the eyes. Now separate the parts by two needle-points, made 



