10 



THE BITING MOUTH. 



their way through wood and other hard substances ; it 

 is with them also that the predaceous insects seize 



2. 



Head and mouth of an Insect (Carabus molaceus], 



1. The head, a a. Antennae, bb. Mandibles, c. Maxillse. dd. Maxillary palpi. 



e. Labial palpi. 



2. The parts of the mouth dissected, a. Labrum. bb. Mandibles, cc, Max- 



illse. d. Labium. 



and destroy their victims. In the form of these 

 organs, and of the teeth with which they are armed, 

 we have consequently as distinct an indication of the 

 mode of life of these animals, as that furnished by the 

 jaws of any quadruped. In the most carnivorous 

 species we find the mandibles pointed and hooked, 

 and the teeth sharply conical, reminding one, to com- 

 pare small things with great, of the formidable canine 

 teeth of the Lion or Tiger, which indeed are scarcely 

 so ferocious as these little tyrants; whilst in those 

 which are formed for gnawing hard substances, the 

 tips of the mandibles are flattened so as to furnish a 

 broad cutting surface, the teeth of the inner edge are 

 blunt, and the lowest of them, being tubercular in 

 their form, offer no distant resemblance to the molars 

 of quadrupeds. Between these extremes the man- 



