144 



CHAPTER VI. 



EATING INSECTS. 



THE larger animals differ so much from one another 

 in their feeding organs, that Linnaeus selected the 

 teeth as best adapted to distinguish his orders of 

 quadrupeds, a circumstance which appears to have 

 led his celebrated Danish pupil, Fabricius, to fix upon 

 the analogous organs in insects for the same purpose. 

 But, confining our views only to insects which eat, 

 we shall find that the structure and form of the 

 organs in question are much more diversified than in 

 the larger animals. From the latter, the jaws differ 

 in not being placed vertically but horizontally. There 

 are two pairs of jaws, one above the other, with an 

 upper and under horizontal lip. The upper pair of 

 jaws, or mandibles (mandibulcB), one on the right 

 and another on the left, usually resemble a large 

 tooth, more or less curved, and jointed into the sides 

 of the head immediately below the upper lip (labruni). 

 Their substance is hard, horny, and of considerable 

 strength, and is usually more or less indented with 

 projections resembling teeth, but which make a por- 

 tion of the jaw itself, not being inserted, in sockets like 

 the teeth of other animals. The under pair of jaws 

 (maxilla) are inserted in the right and left of the 

 inner cavity of the mouth ; but their structure differs 

 from the upper jaws, being jointed and furnished with 

 appendages, perhaps for feeling (palpi). They are 

 protected below by the under lip, and the projection 

 iipon which the latter is attached, called the chin 

 (mentum) *. 



* V, Audouin, Resume d'Entomol, ii, 52, 



