372 Miscellaneous. 



leisure most untiringly to this labour of love. Within the narrow 

 limits of this book the author has indeed amassed great stores of 

 information, and has referred the reader to most of the original 

 sources, should he desire to' follow up the study of Palaeontology. 



This first volume is to be followed by others on the Secondary 

 and Tertiary Fossils. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On some Lepidoptera with Terebrant Trunks, destructive of Oranges. 

 By M. J. Kunckel. 



A French botanist, II. Thozet, residing at Eockhampton, in Aus- 

 tralia, called my attention some years ago (in 1871) to a Lepido- 

 pteron of the genus OpMderes (O.fulhnica, Linn.), which he charged 

 with piercing oranges in order to feed upon their juice. Being con- 

 vinced, like all other naturalists, that the Lepidoptera have without 

 exception flexible trunks, with no rigidity, I doubted the observation 

 of M. Thozet, and shut up in a box the asserted depredators, pro- 

 posing to examine them at my leisure. This examination I put off 

 from day to day, until I lately read in an Australian journal* an 

 article in wbich an anonymous author noticed the depredations com- 

 mitted by O.fulJmicaf, and affirmed, with all the guarantees of care- 

 ful observation, that these moths perforate the skin of the oranges. 

 in order to pump out their juice. During the summer nights they 

 may, without great precautions, be detected at work j absorbed in 

 the operation they are performing, they allow themselves to be 

 captured by hand even upon the oranges. Being curious to obtain 

 evidence of the correctness of these observations, I now carefully 

 examined the trunk of these insects. What was my surprise at 

 discovering a singular and most unexpected fact of adaptation. 



It is well-known that the Lepidoptera are distinguished from all 

 other insects by a character of organization of absolute fixity ; the 

 buccal organs are modified to form a trunk ; or, more explicitly, as 

 was demonstrated by Savigny, the excessively elongated maxilla? 

 constitute an organ of suction. These long, slender, flexible maxilla?,, 

 terminated by a thin point of great flexibility, are applied to each 

 other, but leave between them a fine canal. The Lepidoptera are 

 therefore constructed to suck up the nectar of open flowers, to imbibe 

 various fluid aliments. By a strange exception, the moths of the 

 genus OpMderes, Boisd., possess a rigid trunk, a true borer of ideal 

 perfection, capable of piercing the skin of fruits, of boring through 

 even the thickest and most resistent envelopes. This trunk is a 

 perfect instrument, which would be an excellent model for the 



* ' The C'apricornian/ vol. i. no. 0, May 8, 187-J, published at Eock- 

 hampton. Kindly communicated to me by M. Carriere, head gardener of 

 the nurseries of the Museum. 



t In the article in question the moth is by mistake called O. zulloma. 



