196 



THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



enable these parasitic blood-suckers to pierce the skin of other 

 animals; while in the common house-flies, whose food is entirely 

 fluid and easily accessible, all the parts of the mouth are soft 

 and fleshy. In the bee the part employed in gathering or 

 sucking honey is not tubular but solid, and consists of a long 

 tapering tongue formed of an immense number of short annular 

 divisions, and densely covered throughout its entire length with 

 long erectile hairs. Closely packed up and concealed when at 

 rest, it reaches to a great distance when actively employed, and 

 laps up the sweet juices concealed at the bottom of the flowers 

 by a constant succession of short and quick extensions and 

 contractions. 



In the moths and butterflies the sucking-tube, tongue, or 

 proboscis is rolled up like a watch-spring when at rest, but 

 capable of being darted forth in an instant, and sucking up with 

 great rapidity the nectareous fluids on which its gay volatile 

 possessor lives. 



The carnivorous dragonfly is armed with a kind of flat pro- 

 boscis, with a joint in the 

 middle and a pair of strong 

 hooks or prongs at the end. 

 This proboscis, when the dra- 

 gonfly is at rest, is folded 

 or turned up in such a 

 manner as to lap over the 

 face like a mask; but when 

 the creature sees any insect 

 which it means to attack, it 

 springs suddenly for ward, and 

 by stretching forth the jointed 

 proboscis readily obtains its 

 prey. 



The digestive apparatus of 

 the carnivorous insects differs 

 considerably from that of the 

 vegetable -feeders. In the for- 

 mer the intestine passes nearly 

 straight through the body 

 with few enlargements in its 

 course, and the glandular organs have a simpler structure. 



Alimentary Canal of the carnivorous 

 Green Tiger-beetle. 



