British Bloodsickkks 357 



same scale as the insect itself, you wouKl tail to 

 perceive them. 



Is it not iiuirvellons, too, that the same bet of 

 orj^ans about the moiitii, which we saw employed 

 i^y the wasp for ciittiiij^ paper from wood, and 

 by the ant for the varied functions of civilised 

 ant-life, should be capable of modilication in the 

 inittertly into a sucker for honey, and in the j^ad- 

 tly into a cunning mechanism for piercing thick 

 hides and feedinj^ on the life-blood of superior 

 animals. Nature, it seems, is sparing of j^round- 

 plan, but stranj^ely lavish of nnnor modifications. 

 She will take a sinj^le set of orj^ans, inherited from 

 some early common ancestor, and keep them true 

 in the main throuj^h inlinite varieties ; but as 

 habits alter in one species or another, she will 

 adapt one of these sets to one piece of work 

 and another to a seccnd wholly unlike it. While 

 she preserves throughout the siniilaiity due to a 

 common orij^in, she will vary inliintely the details 

 and the minor structures so as to make them 

 apply to the most div-Jise functions. Xothinj^ 

 shows this truth r.iore beautifully, and more 

 variously, th:«!*. ihe mouths of msects ; and though 

 liie n.unes by which we call the dilfereut parts 

 are, 1 will admit, somewhat harsh and technical, 

 I feel sure that anybody who once masters their 

 meaning cannot fail to be delij^hted by the end- 

 less modifications by which a few small instru- 

 ments are made to fit an ever-increasinj^ and 

 inhnite diversity of circumstances. 



