344 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



nected by a joint : for, if it were constantly ex- 

 tended, it would be too much exposed to acciden- 

 tal injuries ; therefore, in its indolent state, it is 

 doubled up by means of the joint, and in that posi- 

 tion lies secure under a scaly penthouse.''^ In many 

 species of the butterfly, the proboscis, when not 

 in use, is coiled up like a watch-spring. In the 

 same bee, the proboscis serves the office of the 

 mouth, the insect having no other ;^^ and how much 

 better adapted it is, than a mouth would be, for 

 the collecting of the proper nourishment of the ani- 

 mal, is sufficiently evident. The food of the bee 

 is the nectar of flowers ; a drop of syrup, lodged 

 deep in the bottom of the corollge, in the recesses 

 of the petals, or down the neck of a monopetalous 

 glove. Into these cells the bee thrusts its long nar- 

 row pump, through the cavity of which it sucks"^ 



middle. The apical half of the stalk is soft and flexible, rather 

 flat, and covered with minute hairs : it is chiefly this part of the 

 proboscis which is used in collecting honey. Honey is not sucked 

 up as is generally supposed, but licked up, and then conveyed to 

 the oesophagus. The four lateral pieces when closed form a 

 sheath to protect the tongue, and other parts of the central stalk. 

 Fig. 2 represents the profile of a butterfly's head ; a is the com- 

 pound eye, and b the proboscis partiaHy unfolded ; c and d show 

 portions o ' the tubes forming the proboscis highly magnified. 



^'' There is an indentation in the under side of the head to re- 

 ceive the proboscis when folded up. 



** A bee has the same number of parts to its mouth as any other 

 insect ; the only difference between that of a bee and a beetle is, 

 that some of the parts are more developed in the former ; viz., th« 

 labium, tongue, and maxillie. 



^ See Note 86. It might be more correct to say lick up, for 

 there is no tube. 



