INSECTS: THEIR MOUTHS 169 



beetle, except the maxillary palpi; and those, very small 

 indeed, but quite distinct, you may see, on the outer edge 

 of the maxillce, just below the point where their outline 

 begins to swell into its graceful curve. 



The cylindrical tongue is capable of considerable ex- 

 tension and contraction at the will of the animal, being 

 sometimes pushed far out of the mouth, and at others 

 quite concealed within its sheath. "The manner," ob- 

 serves Mr. Newport, "in which the honey is obtained, 

 when the organ is plunged into it at the bottom of a 

 flower, is by lapping, or a constant succession of short 

 and quick extensions and contractions of the organ, which 

 occasion the fluid to accumulate upon it, and to ascend 

 along its upper surface, until it reaches the orifice of the 

 tube formed by the approximation of the maxillce above, 

 and of the labial palpi, and this part of the ligula below. ' ' 



Well might Swammerdam, when describing this exqui- 

 site structure, humbly exclaim "I cannot refrain from con- 

 fessing, to the glory of the Immense and Incomprehensible 

 Architect, that I have but imperfectly described and rep- 

 resented this small organ; for, to represent it to the life 

 in its full perfection, as truly most perfect it is, far ex- 

 ceeds the utmost efforts of human knowledge." 



Here you may see the implement with which the Bug 

 performs its much-dreaded operation of blood-sucking; for 

 though this is not the head of the Bedbug, but of one of 

 the winged species that are found so abundantly on plants, 

 and which I have just obtained by beating the hedge at 

 the bottom of my garden yet the structure of the mouth 

 is so exactly alike in all the members of this immense 

 family that one example will serve for all others. 



From the front of the head, which, owing to the man- 

 15 SCIENCE 8 



