INSECTS TONGUES. 



591 



tine, and lastly into Canada balsam, is perfectly useless, 

 except in rare instances where points connected with the 

 structure of the integument have to be made out. Oi 

 course, the parts should be viewed from above, from below, 

 and in profile, in order to gain exact ideas of their rela- 

 tions. The binocular microscope, however, promises to 

 diminish vastly the difficulties which had until recently 

 to be encountered, as by its use the parts may be clearly 

 viewed just as they are, without preparation of any kind." 1 



Fig. 266. 



1, Foet and leg of Qphion. 2, Foot and leg of Flesh-fly. 3, Foot and leg ol 

 Drone-fly. (The small circles inclose objects about natural size.) 



Fig. 267 represents the tongue and piercing apparatus 

 of the Drone-fly. This remarkable compound structure, 

 together with the admirable form and exquisite beauty of 

 the apparatus, must strike the mind with wonder and 

 delight, and lead the observer to reflect on the weakness 

 and impotence of all human mechanism, when compared 

 with the skill and inimitable finish displayed in the object 

 before us. The harder structures which surround it have 



(1) Tuffen West, Trains. Linn. Soc. vol. xxiii. p. 393. 



