MOUTH-PARTS, WINGS, AND LEGS 43 



dant nectar the whole suctorial mechanism is brought 

 into play. 



A butterfly or a moth — the death's head moth, for 

 example — is equipped with sucking mouth-parts which 

 contrast strongly with those of the bee. Its mandibles 

 are so much reduced as to be practically non-existent. 

 The first maxilla?, however, are very conspicuous. They — 

 or as some authorities believe, their galea? — are greatly 

 lengthened, grooved inwardly, and united by their edges 

 to form a proboscis or trunk, by means of which fluids 

 can be drawn into the mouth. The maxillary palpi are 

 very small ; in some species they are altogether wanting. 

 But those of the second maxilla? are well developed, and 

 stand up in front of the head — the second maxilla? them- 

 selves being greatly reduced and quite functionless. In 

 the diagram on Plate IX, the reader must not mistake 

 the space between the eyes of the moth for its mouth. 

 This is merely a depression within which the proboscis, 

 when not in use, lies coiled up like a watch spring. The 

 mouth opens at the base of the proboscis, by which it is 

 hidden. 



Among such insects as bugs, cicadas, and aphides the 

 mouth-parts are adapted for puncturing the skins of plants 

 or animals, and for pumping up the sap or blood. Both 

 the mandibles and the first maxilla? are produced at their 

 extremities into long, needle-like processes. These lie 

 normally within a kind of grooved sheath, formed by the 

 labium (second maxilla?). Within this sheath the needles 

 work up and down, and from its tip they are plunged into 

 the organism which is attacked. The juice, or blood, 

 flows up between the needles by capillary attraction, and 

 is sucked into the insect's mouth. 



Still more remarkable are the mouth -parts of a gnat 

 * or mosquito. Not only are the mandibles and first 



