HY M ENOPTERA. Still better adapted than the flies are the wasps, and especially the bees, which rely almost exclusively on a floral diet., and are most iinport ant as fertilizers of flowers. In bees (q.v.) the mouth parts are wonderfully adapted for probing flowers, the maxilla being specialized in a variety of ways, while with its stont mandi bles the bumblehee can cut a hole through the corolla of Salvia or Wistaria, without taking the trouble. as the honey-lice does, to seek out the sectary. Besides the month-parts. the hairy legs. especially those of the hinder pair, are so modified as to form pollen-basket ( ennl)ienla 1. in which the pollen is heaped, or the bristly hairs on the under side of the hind body of the leaf-eutter bee are adapted for this purpose, while the hairs on most bees are •spinulose,' or stiffly feathered, for the purpose of earrying the pollenslust—all of which of obtaining and carrying pollen are Of direct importanee in the fertilization of flowers. All these highly complex structures have evidently been brought about in response to the complicated series of muscular efforts and physical strains resulting from the attendants: of these insects upon flowers.
The perfection of adaptation is attained in the moths and butterflies. These creatures and birds are clearly the most highly and wonderfully spe cialized of all animals. The butterfly is a most delicate and elaborate living flying machine, and all its characteristic structures have been drawn out in response to its mode of life, and of all the organs, its spiral tongue is the most marvelous in mechanism and adaptation. That the tongue
(maxillae) has been evolved in response to the visits to flowers with a deep corolla is, among other facts, suggested by that of its entire ab sence in many silkworm-moths. These sluggish, short-lived insects do not take liquid food, conse quently by disuse the tongue is either in part or in certain forms entirely atrophied. The steps in development and specialization of the tongue of Lcpidoptera, which is adapted for probing either tlat or long and tubular corollas. may easily he traced. The end of the tongue is some times highly specialized. "Peculiar stiff, sharp pointed appendages at the cud of the en able them also to tear open delicate succulent tissues, and make use of the sap in flowers which secrete no honey." In response also to severe impacts and strains, the tip of the tongue of cer tain moths (Ophideres) are so spiny that they can pierce the skin of plums. peaches, and even oranges. In length, the tongue may vary from a minute pointed rudiment scarcely a millimeter in length to that of the hawkmoths, which may Le SO millimeters long, while in a Madagascar sphinx the tongue is 91/4 inches in length, and as there are said to he orchids with flowers as deep as this, there is evidently a relation of cause and effect between the phenomena.