LEPIDOPTERA. 



I2 7 



but the hemipter must first pierce the epidermis of its 

 victim before it can avail itself of the store of liquid food ; 

 while the sucking proboscis of the lepidopter is coiled 

 neatly under the head when not in use, and when getting 

 its food, the butterfly uncoils its proboscis, puts it far 

 enough down into the flower cup 

 to reach the nectar, and then 

 drinks much as if one were sipping 

 lemonade through a straw. This 

 proboscis consists of the greatly- 

 modified maxillae applied to each 

 other so that the two fit tightly 

 along a common groove. (Fig. 

 53.) This feeding organ, in some 

 of the sphinx moths, projects four 

 or five inches in front of the head, 

 when it is uncoiled in the act of 

 sucking the nectar from some 

 deep flower cup. (Fig. 54.) In 

 other species of lepidopters it is 

 only a fraction of an inch long. 



If you watch a sphinx moth 

 at a trumpet creeper blossom or antenna; /, 

 a moon flower, you will see it 



uncoil this proboscis and lower it into the flower cup, 

 (Fig. 55) all the time humming busily. These sphinx 

 moths are often mistaken for humming birds. The other 

 mouth parts are, in the great majority of lepidopters, 

 reduced to mere rudiments. The significance of this fact 

 is apparent when the butterfly's manner, of food-getting 

 is considered. 



Other instincts than taste are determinative in the 

 butterfly's choice of food. Apparently, sight and smell 



FIG. 53. Head of a butterfly, 

 Vanessa. Labial palpus; p, a, 



