USE OF THE MICROSCOPE IN ZOOLOGY. 



when actively employed in taking food, it is extended 

 to a great distance beyond the other parts of the mouth ; 

 but when at rest it is closely 

 packed up and concealed 

 between the maxillae. 

 ' The manner/ says Mr. 

 Newport, ' in which the 

 honey is obtained when 

 the organ is plunged into 

 it at the bottom of a 

 flower, is by "lapping," 

 or a constant succession 

 of short and quick exten- 

 sions and contractions of 

 the organ, which occasion 

 the fluid to accumulate 

 upon it, and to ascend 

 along its upper surface 

 until it reaches the orifice 

 of the tube formed by the 

 approximation of the 

 maxillae above, and of the 

 labial palpi and this part 

 of the ligula below/ " * 



The head of the gnat 

 is a wonderful organ, and 

 is provided with numerous 

 sharp instruments, the 

 effect of which when punc- 

 turing the skin is known 

 to everybody. I ought, Head of Gnat, 



however, for the credit of 



the sex, to say it is the female alone that practises 

 blood-letting, the males being harmless in this respect. 



* Carpenter's " Microscope," page 667. 



E 2 



