ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 81 
the social wasps, though some of the solitary wasps 
have only three jomts. They stretch out forwards, 
and between them lies the ligula or tongue, which is 
attached to the square end of the mentum. This 
tongue is a clear white, transparent structure, covered 
with fine hairs, the arrangement of which gives the 
appearance of delicate transverse markings at the tip. 
Here it is split into four lobes or points, each tipped 
with a round horny spot, which has been sometimes 
called a gland. The two central lobes are broader, 
and are separated by a comparatively shallow notch ; 
the lateral lobes are longer and narrower; the cleft, 
which divides them from the body of the tongue, being 
much deeper. These last are called the lacinia, that 
is to say, the outer hem or fringe of the organ. 
It will assist us in the examination of these very 
complicated structures to follow, as much as possible, 
their natural divisions. And as the labium had a 
mentum, a ligula, and a pair of palpi, so the struc- 
ture of the maxille admits of, and will be made 
more intelligible by, a similar sub-division. As the 
specimen lies in glycerme under the microscope we 
can readily distinguish two long dark horny limbs 
converging to a point. The labium lies between these, 
and we can trace the delicate membrane by which 
it is connected to them. They are the basilar por- 
tion of the maxille, that is to say, the base to which 
the several portions are attached, and the point, 
consequently, from which it will be most convenient 
to commence their description. The maxille, as 
already observed, are conventionally supposed to 
represent the lower jaws of the vertebrate class. 
To the anterior extremity of either basilar portion 
G 
