EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF INSECTS. 79 



In these instances it is quadrifid. Leaving the bees, we shall 

 find the ligula in Odynerus, Eumenes, and Epijjone, elongate 

 and quadrifid ; the feelers also differ essentially from those of the 

 bees, in being situated considerably below the union of the lobes 

 of the ligula. The lips of fossorial Hymenoptera are shorter 

 than those of the foregoing ; the ligula is usually short, obtuse, 

 and bifid ; the feeler-bearer variously developed, and the feelers 

 much longer in proportion. The Ichneumonites, and other pa- 

 rasites, are very similar ; the tongue being generally bifid and 

 much shorter than the feelers. Lastly, in the Tenthredinites, 

 we find distinctly trilobed ItgulcB, short lip, and long feelers. 



In Coleoptera the lip is reduced in length, but in all 

 other respects it is very close to that of Hymenoptera. 

 Latreille gives the name of labitim to the whole lower lip in 

 Coleoptera. MacLeay calls the same part mentum; but, 

 reluctant to relinquish the Fabrician term, labium, has ap- 

 plied it to the ligula. Kirbyi calls the whole lip, labium, 

 but follows MacLeay in the nomenclature of its parts. 

 Curtis, whose beautiful work, entitled " British Entomology," 

 is known to every entomologist in this country, follows the 

 nomenclature"^ of MacLeay. The labial feelers of Coleop- 

 tera are four-jointed. The basal joint is very various in its 

 development. This circumstance is a fruitful source of con- 

 fusion. The ligula originates at or near the pharynx. It 

 extends along the inner surface of the lip, to which it is closely 

 attached, and stretches beyond it. The produced portion 

 being in the nomenclature of Fabricius, the limb of the lip, 

 and sometimes the ligula, is the only part available for cha- 

 racters. The feeler-bearer in the lip of Coleoptera is soft and 

 fleshy, and is remarkable for the variety of its development; 

 and the feelers are attached to it by a loose and flexible arti- 

 culation. Now, this being the case, you will observe, that 

 the elongation of the ligula is very likely to afTect the position 

 of organs so situated. Let us examine this. In Cicindela 

 the lip has three lobes; the central acute, the lateral ones 

 obtuse. In the spaces between these are situated the feelers ; 

 there is no produced feeler-bearer, nor ligula. We will next 



1 In the Coleoptera only I speak of. The labium of Coleoptera is, in Kirby's 

 nomenclature, the lingua of Hymenoptera. In Orthoptera and Neuroptera I am not 

 competent to offer any explanation of this author's nomenclature of these parts. 



"■ In the majority of the Coleoptera. In the other classes there is but little 

 uniformity in the nomenclature of parts. 



