CHAPTER VIII 



INSECT WEAPONS AND TOOLS 



INSECTS are provided with organs as wonderfully 

 specialised as those of man himself to serve them 

 in the fight for existence. Of course, I can only 

 take a few examples to illustrate this fact ; but 

 every insect possesses some organ quite as mar- 

 vellous as any that are shown in this chapter. 



There are many insects which can inflict serious 

 injury with the weapons they carry ; though the 

 injury is not always inflicted in anger or even in 

 self-defence, but is usually the natural consequence 

 of operations performed by the creature in 

 pursuing its own vocation. Let us take, for 

 example, the horse- or gad-fly, which preys upon 

 horses, cattle, and domestic animals. Now, when 

 an insect, perhaps barely an inch in length, 

 attacks and pierces the tough skin of a creature 

 like the horse, and sucks out a surprising 

 quantity of blood, we naturally conclude that it 

 carries some very special weapons. The micro- 

 graph given in Fig. 1 20 shows the remarkable 



