ORGANS OF THE LEPIDOPTERA. 55 



Cyprus, applies to herself the epithet " a moth of 

 peace." I must not venture to quote all the various 

 passages in which butterflies and moths are men- 

 tioned, but shall at once proceed to point out the 

 peculiar formation of mouth which the Lepidoptera 

 possess. 



" The innumerable tribes of moths and butterflies," 

 of which the order is composed, " eat nothing but 

 the honey secreted in the nectaries of flowers, which 

 are frequently situated at the bottom of a tube of 

 great length. They are accordingly provided with 

 an organ exquisitely fitted for its oflice — a slender 

 and tubular tongue, more or less long, sometimes 

 not shorter than three inches, but spirally convoluted 

 when at rest, like the main- spring of a watch, into 

 a convenient compass. This tongue, which they 

 have the power of instantly vmrolling, they dart into 

 the bottom of a flower, and, as through a syphon, 

 draw up a supply of the dehcious nectar on which 

 they feed."* I have called it a tongue, but strictly 

 speaking it is not so. It is an organ of a carti- 

 laginous substance, consisting of innumerable rings, 

 and composed of three distinct tubes, through the 

 centre one of which the honey alone is conveyed. 

 This central one appears to be formed by the grooves 

 of the lateral tubes, hooked together in the same 



* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 395. 



