84 EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF INSECTS. 



worthy of remark. The disk and feeler-bearer are closely 

 connected, the suture uniting them being obliquely longitu- 

 dinal. In treating of these parts, 1 believe it will be better to 

 consider them but as one. Their distinctness is more clearly 

 to be discerned from actual examination of the objects them- 

 selves, and from the accurate plates of Straus-Diirckheim, 

 Savigny, &c., than from any verbal description. The blade is 

 long, slender, pliable, and capable of rolling up like an Ionic 

 volute, or the main-spring of a watch. This is a principal cha- 

 racter of the class. When at rest, the blade appears to be a 

 small ring, and is situated between the labial feelers. Each 

 blade, when examined, is found to be externally convex, 

 internally concave ; so that the two, united together in front, 

 form a tube. Through this tube, the honey of flowers is drawn. 

 Each blade is also in itself a tube. The organ formed by 

 the union of the two is very elastic ; and, if artificially drawn 

 out to its full length, will, on being loosed, instantly return 

 to its natural position. The maxillary feelers are by no means 

 a prominent portion in the mouths of Lepidoptera. They 

 are situated one on the feeler - bearer of each feeler -jaw. 

 Reaumur, a hundred years ago, noticed the maxillary feelers of 

 Lepidoptera,^ and figured them very accurately ; but Savigny 

 appears to have been the first scientifically to ascertain their 

 identity. Though not prominent, they afford the best charac- 

 ters for dividing this class that we at present possess. The 

 galea, or helmet, is still undiscovered. In the Sp/iingites 

 I find no feeler: I conclude, therefore, it is nearly obsolete. 

 In Zygcena, Ino, Glaucopis, Pyrausta, and all the Pyr allies 

 and Crambites, it is distinctly visible, generally without a glass, 

 and appears to be typically three-jointed. In the Tortricites 

 and Tineites the maxillary feelers are less distinct, but always 

 present. In the Noctuites they are small and two-jointed. 

 In the Geometrites they are still less conspicuous. In the 

 Papiliotiites, less still : in Amaryssus Machaon, obsolete.*" 



" Dans la figure on peut remarquer deux barbes plus ecartees I'une de I'autre 

 que ne le sont communenient celles des autres papillons : deux filets places entre 

 les barbes, et diriges dans un sens contraire a celui oti les barbes le sont. — 

 Riaiivmr. 



^ Savigny's figure of tbe maxillary feeler in Amaryssus MacJiaon represents 

 rather the site of the feeler, than the feeler itself. I have hunted for it in vain 

 in the specimens I have dissected. 



