THE STUDY OF INSECT LIFE 7 



first maxillae is the lower lip or labium, formed 

 by a pair of maxillae united in their basal 

 portions, and also bearing palps. All these 

 mouth parts will be found to be modified in 

 the most remarkable manner, in accordance 

 with the kind of food upon which the insect 

 lives. All the Beetles, Locusts, Cockroaches, 

 and Crickets, which live upon comparatively 

 hard substances, have their mandibles sharp 

 and powerful, well adapted for mastication, 

 while the maxillae are well developed. Amongst 

 the Bees and Wasps (Hymenoptera) we shall find 

 the mouth parts adapted for biting, licking, and 

 sucking; thus the mandibles and maxillae are 

 sharp and lancet-like, while the middle part of 

 the labium is produced into a long median 

 tongue, at the sides of which are a pair of 

 accessory organs, so that the maxillae and 

 labium are capable of forming a sort of tube 

 or proboscis, through which the nectar from 

 flowers can be easily sucked up. In the Bugs, 

 Lice, and Aphides (Hemiptera) the mouth parts 

 are modified into a sucking proboscis developed 

 from the labium, enclosing the stylet-like man 

 dibles and maxillae. Amongst the true Flies 

 (Dipterd), House-flies, Gnats, Hover-flies, the 

 mandibles, frequently undeveloped in the males, 

 are biting and piercing organs, the basal parts 

 of the labium forming a proboscis enclosing a 

 sharp spine developed from a process on the 

 roof of the mouth. The extremity of the 

 proboscis, as, for instance, in the House-fly and 

 many of its near relations, is frequently enlarged 

 into a kind of double pad, something like a pair 



