MOUTH OF INSECTS. 



21 



ocelli 



Compound e$es 

 Mandibles 



I 



Maxillary pa Ipi ... .' 

 MaxilltB or jaws .... 



Labial palpi 



lateral lobes of the ligula. 



Fig. 7. HEAD OF AN ANTIIOPHORA. 



under the common name of Hymenop'tera (from the Greek, 

 'i/men, a membrane, and pteron, a wing), the buccal apparatus 

 has an intermediate arrangement. The upper lip or labrum 

 (Jig. 8, a) and the mandibles (6) closely resemble those of the 

 tritores or triturating insects ; but the 

 jaws (c) and the ligula (d) are not 

 excessively prolonged ; the first take 

 a tubular shape and form a longi- 

 tudinal sheath for the sides of the 

 ligula : so that these organs, joined 

 in a packet, constitute a trunk, which 

 conveys the food, always soft or 

 liquid, upon which these animals feed. 

 This trunk is movable at the base, 

 and flexible throughout the rest of its 

 extent, but never rolls itself up as we 

 see in butterflies. The mandibles 

 chiefly serve the purpose of dividing 

 the materials of which the hymenop 

 terse make their nests, or rather, to 

 seize and put to death the prey whose 

 fluids these insects suck. There also 

 exists in the interior of the buccal cavity other solid pieces which 

 are wanting in the fritores ; they constitute valves destined to 

 close the pharynx or swallow every time the movement of deglu- 

 tition is not effected. 



