edge, and would not retire, nor pay any attention to the reiterated blows of its friendly monitor, who at length seized it by one of its legs and dragged it away rather roughly. The toper, however, returned, keeping his large mandibles extended with all the appearance of rage, and again stationed himself to quaff the delightful beverage; but its companion would give it no quarter, and, coming in front, it seized it and dragged it by main force to the nest*."

The deficiency of fluids in butterflies, so different in this their mature or rather old age†, from their youth in the caterpillar state,-a deficiency which is no doubt rendered still greater by their sporting so actively in the sun,-renders them no less thirsty than the ants. We have often remarked accordingly, and more particularly in the autumnal months, that crowds of the small garden white butterfly (Pontia Rape, HAWORTH), during sunny weather, congregate around the margins of ponds and other moist places. At Compton Basset, in Wiltshire, we once counted above fifty of these butterflies all assembled within a space of a few yards on the sludge which had just been left by the water of a pond, partially dried up by the sun. What was most remarkable, they seemed to have quite lost the pugnacious disposition which they are affirmed to display when they meet with their congeners on the wing. At the pond, on the contrary, all was harmony among these light-winged belligerents, no one disturbing its neighbour, though they stood side by side, and almost touching one another. They were, indeed, too intent on quenching their thirst to think of attack or defence. We remarked, in the autumn of 1829, a similar congre gating of the same species of butterflies on the watered *Huber on Ants, page 150.

+ See Insect Transformations, page 49.

roads in the vicinity of London*. They do not seem to be more choice in the quality of their water than bees, who, most naturalists tell us, prefer that which is stagnant and putrescent +.

The tongue, which analogy points out as the chief organ of taste, is, in insects, frequently very different from the same organ in the larger animals; but in the locusts, grasshoppers, and crickets (Orthoptera, OLIVIER), and in the dragon-flies (Libellulina), it is rounded and fleshy, somewhat resembling that of quadrupeds. The dragon-flies have, besides, a sort of palate, consisting of a square fleshy cushion, beset, like the upper surface of their tongue, with minute black tasters (papilla) ending in a short bristle. The same may be observed in many beetles (Geotrupes, Dytiscus, &c), and it is probable it exists in most if not all other insects, though hitherto unexamined, or, from the minuteness of the parts, undiscovered. The hairs, which have just been mentioned as arising from the tasters, occur on the tongues of many insects, as in all the bees (Apidæ, LEACH), and generally in the predacious beetles (Adephaga, CLAIRVILLE), and are supposed by Kirby and Spence to be mechanically useful for securing food §. It is more probable that, by penetrating into a morsel, they aid in distinguishing its flavour. It is worthy of notice that the dung-beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius), and some others, have the hairs on their tongues bent back, like the tubercles on the tongue of the cat and the lion, which we know to be used mechanically in filing down, as it were, portions of their food ||. In some insects there are also projections on the tongue, similar to teeth; and *J. R. Réaumur, v. 697. Cuvier, Anatomie Compar. iii. 347. § Intr. iii. 454. See Menageries, vol. i. page 179.

in the wasp it is forked, somewhat like the tongue of a serpent. In the saw-flies (Tenthredinidæ) it is divided into three, and in a predacious beetle (Leistus) it is formed like a trident.

Leistus fulvibarbas; a, its trident-shaped tongue, highly magnified,

In bees the tongue is very long and tubular, as we shall afterwards notice; and in the bugs (Cimicida) it is bristle-shaped and sharp.

CHAPTER III.

SMELL IN INSECTS,

WHEN a brood of the large tortoiseshell butterfly (Vanessa polychlorus) is observed frequenting a row of elm trees, they may all be speedily attracted to a particular branch by putting a little honey on the leaves, and thus the collector may secure as many as he shall require. This circumstance is to be attributed wholly, as it appears to us, to the acute scent of the insects, who no doubt mistake it for some melliferous flower. We have observed, indeed, that butterflies of all species, though far from being voracious feeders, will often dart down from a considerable height upon a flower beneath their track, even when their leading object seemed to be very different from searching for food. This struck us more particularly in a narrow garden at Hâvre de Grace, enclosed with stone walls fifteen feet high; for no butterfly, in passing over it, omitted to descend for the purpose of visiting the blossoms of an alpine bluebottle (Centaurea montana), whose smell, however, to our organs, is far from being powerful enough to be perceived at the distance of one foot, much less at fifteen or twenty feet, as it must have been by the butterflies; for we often saw the painted lady (Cynthia Cardui), and other high flying species, alight there*. These facts will appear more remarkable, if we believe, with M. Le Cat, though he gives no reason for his opinion, but puts us off with a simile-that odours, * J. R.

Painted lady butterfly (Cynthia Cardui); and Alpine bluebottle (Centau rea montana).

being much heavier than air, seldom rise in it, and when they do, it is only in consequence of the velocity with which they are ejected from bodies,-in the same manner that a horse at full speed, and the wind together, will raise a cloud of heavy dust on a highway

The ingenious experiments of Redi also show the acuteness of smell in blow-flies, which actually laid their eggs on the silk covering of the meat he em*Traité des Sensations, Paris, 1767.