DKAGON-FLIES. 



CHAPTER II. 



THEIR APPALLING VORACITY. 



rPHE mouths of/ insects are most complicated organs, 

 * comprising different sets of jaws, lips, and various 

 appendages. They are modified to suit the task which 

 they have to perform, and though the strong jaws and 

 mouth-brush of the stag-beetle, the slender spiral pro- 

 boscis of the butterfly, and the venom-bearing weapon 

 of the gnat or flea appear to be utterly distinct from 

 each other, they are really modifications of the same 

 organs. 



In the dragon-fly larva, these organs are modified in a 

 most astonishing manner. If the reader will refer to 

 page 299 he will see that the smaller insect is being 

 grasped between two curved jaws, the bases of which 



