42 OIIGANS OF INSECTS. 



i' the bud," feast on the petals of flowers, and others 

 revel on the nectar of our choicest fruits. By their 

 numbers, their varied powers, and their diversified 

 instincts, they exert a prodigious influence on the 

 economy of Nature. This influence depends in 

 many instances on the structure of those organs by 

 which they provide themselves with nourishment, 

 joined of course to tliose peculiar instincts invari- 

 ably accompanying each particular formation of the 

 mouth. I propose, therefore, in my present letter to 

 confine myself to a slight sketch of the oral apparatus 

 wnith which insects are furnished, an apparatus which 

 undergoes an astonishing number of modifications. 

 In fact, on a minute scrutiny, we find throughout all 

 the insect tribes the same admirable adaptation of 

 means to an end which has so frequently been pointed 

 out in the various organs of quadrupeds and birds. 

 The flexile trunk of the elephant, the graceful neck 

 of the girafi'e, the talons and strength of the eagle, 

 the migratory powers of the swallow, are not better 

 adapted to their wants and capabilities, than are the 

 instruments by which insects take their respective 

 food. It becomes, therefore, a pleasing inquiry to 

 ascertain what structure of mouth belongs to each 

 order of insects ; by what habits that structure is 

 accompanied, and by what changes in those habits 

 every alteration in the structure of the mouth is at- 



