INSECTS : STTKGS AND OVIPOSITORS. 143 



around tliem : these, acting in various directions, and 

 being inserted into the hincets at various points, exercise 

 a complete control over their movements, projecting or 

 retractinrr them at their will. But each lancet has a 

 singular projection from its back, which appears to act 

 in some way as a guide to its motion, probably prevent- 

 ing il from slipping aside when darted forth, for the 

 bulbous part of the sheath, in which these projections 

 work, seems formed expressly to receive them. 



Thus we see au apparatus beautifully contrived to 

 enter the flesh of an enemy : the two spears finely point- 

 ed, sharp-edged, and saw-toothed, adapted for piercing, 

 cutting, and tearing ; the reversed direction of the teeth 

 gives the weapon a hold in the flesh, and prevents it 

 from being readily drawn out. Here is an elaborate 

 store of power for the jactation of the javelins, in the 

 numerous muscle-hands ; here is a provision made for 

 the precision of the impulse ; and finally, here is a pol- 

 ished sheath for the reception of the weapons and their 

 preservation when not in actual use. All this is per- 

 fect ; but something still was wanting to render the 

 weapons efiective, and that something your experience 

 has proved to be supplied. 



The mere intromission of these points, incomparably 

 finer and sharper than the finest needle that was ever 

 polished in a Sheffield workshop, would produce no re- 

 sult appreciable to our feelings ; and most surely would 

 not be followed by the distressing agony attendant on 

 the sting of a bee. We must look for something more 

 than we have seen. 



We need not be long in finding it. For here, at the 

 base of the sheath, into which it enters by a narrow 

 neck, lies a transparent pear-shaped bag, its surface 



