EATING INSECTS. 145 



The jaws, it has been well remarked, " are ad- 

 mirably adapted for their intended services : some 

 sharp and armed with spines and branches for tearing 

 flesh ; others hooked for seizing, and at the same 

 time hollow for suction ; some calculated like shears 

 for gnawing leaves ; others more resembling grind- 

 stones, of a strength and solidity sufficient to reduce 

 the hardest wood ; and this singularity attends the 

 major part of these insects, that they possess in fact 

 two pairs of jaws, an upper and an under pair, both 

 placed horizontally, not vertically, the former ap- 

 parently in most cases for the seizure and mastica- 

 tion of their prey ; the latter, when hooked, for re- 

 taining and tearing, while the upper comminute it 

 previously to its being swallowed*." 



Among quadrupeds we can readily tell what food 

 an individual naturally feeds on by inspecting the 

 teeth. But amongst insects this principle is by no 

 means so obviously applicable ; for several of those 

 which are furnished with the most formidable jaws, 

 such as the stag-beetle (Lucanus Cervus), feed 

 upon vegetable substances almost exclusively. We 

 say almost, for it is not a little remarkable that 

 a very great number of insects, whose natural food 

 seems to be vegetable, will occasionally prey upon 

 animals in the same way as soft-billed birds (Syl- 

 viadfB, 4*c.) w iH f ee d either on berries or insects as 

 they can procure them, and as the common garden 

 snail (Helix aspersa, MULLER), though it usually 

 devours leaves, will sometimes make a meal of an 

 earth-worm, as we have observed more than once f. 

 In the case of insects, we may illustrate our re- 

 mark by referring to the earwig (forficula auricu- 

 laria, LINN.), well known in every garden. There 



* Kirby and Spence, Intr., i. 394. 



t J. R. See also Sowerby on Helix nemoralis, in Zool. 

 Journ. i. 285. 



O 



