390 ORDERS OF PTILOTA. 



which, when examined, is found to consist of two pieces, 

 representing the maxillae, sometimes heing provided with a 

 small jointed appendage or palpus at its base. This very 

 slender and delicate proboscis (or spiritrompe, as it is called 

 by Latreille, or antlia, by Kirby and Spence), is employed 

 by the insect in sipping the sweets from the flowers, upon 

 which alone it subsists, and which, by its peculiar construc- 

 tion, is admirably adapted for penetrating the narrowest 

 blossoms. When at rest it is rolled up in a coil, and de- 

 fended by two large and compressed palpi, composed of 

 three joints, inserted upon a lip fixed to the front of the 

 head. A more minute examination of the head, however, 

 proves that the rudiments of the other parts of the mouth, 

 namely, an upper lip and a pair of mandibles, also exist, but 

 in a very minute state, and, as it would seem, unfitted for 

 any service in feeding a peculiarity the more remarkable, 

 because in the preparatory state of the larva the mandibles 

 are very robust and horny, and constantly employed in 

 biting the leaves which at that time serve for the support of 

 the insect. The mesothorax is furnished at the sides \\ith a 

 pair of large scales called pterygodes (Paraptera or teyuke), 

 affixed at the base of the anterior wings on the upper side, 



Creun-tpot tiger-moth. 



represented of a white colour in the accompanying figure of 

 the Cream-spot tiger-moth (Arctia villica). The abdomen 



