106 NATURAL HISTORY 



for the maggot of the common moth [Tinea tapetzella] lives upon feathers, 

 hair, wool, &c., which seem to furnish much water or a much moister 

 substance, for they are as full of juice as any. 



Of Digestion in Insects. 



The food in many insects, and in the more imperfect animals, does not 

 undergo so much change as in the more perfect ; or at least not so 

 much of the food is digested ; wherefore they eat much more, and 

 produce much more excrements, and that excrement is very much the 

 same as the food when first eaten. This we find verified in the snail : 

 the excrements of this animal appear to be nearly the same as when 

 eaten. In fleas we find the same thing ; also in the silk- worm, and 

 perhaps in all caterpillars. 



Of the Teeth of Insects. 



All insects I believe are not endowed with teeth. Those that only 

 suck, as the common fly, have none ; yet some that suck have them, as 

 the bee. But in the bee they are used as weapons of offence among 

 one another, and as modellers of their cells, not as eaters. The teeth 

 of insects are, I believe, always of a horny nature. They are commonly 

 in pairs, and are placed laterally, opening sideways, as in the bee, 

 spider, lobster, &c. They are of various shapes, some like two claws as 

 in the grasshopper, which are more parts of offence and defence than 

 for eating. They are placed externally like the bill in birds. 



Of the Weapons of Insects. 



Many insects, like many other animals, have weapons entirely of 

 offence and defence ; others have weapons for a compound use, for 

 offence and defence, and for the catching of their food or prey. But 

 those that have them for the compound use, when they use them other- 

 wise than in catching their prey, do so generally upon the defensive, 

 as, for instance, the grasshopper; for if a grasshopper be caught, it 

 bites with considerable force. However, in the grasshopper it may be 

 an offensive instrument among themselves. The weapons which appear to 

 have no other use but for offence and defence, are such as the sting of 

 bees. In those insects that have the weapons compound, both males 

 and females possess them, both having the same [need and] mode of pro- 

 curing their food ; such as the grasshopper. This is similar to the lion- 

 and dog-tribes ; also to eagles, &c. 



Those insects that have weapons of offence and defence, simply, such 

 as the bee-tribe, have them only in the female. These instruments are 



