Proboscis is a Beautiful Organ.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 150, 26 June 1931, Page 6

Proboscis is a Beautiful Organ .

Nature Notes

By

James Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S. proboscis of a moth or a butterfly is much less complex than the proboscis of a bee. It does not, by complicated details and delicacy of structure, create so much surprise and admiration. Anatomically, it is very different from the proboscis of other sucking insects. Near its tip there are minute structures, which may be used to tear the delicate tissues of blossoms. Suction is performed by a special apparatus, including a tiny bag and muscles. Sir J. Arthur Thomson, of Aberdeen, found in the proboscis of moths and butterflies, a beautiful structure, with all the marks of efficiency, although in many butterflies it seems to be of very little use. He does not deny that the proboscis often is part of an important suction pump; but he points out that there are butterflies which regard feeding as unimportant. As caterpillars they were voracious. In the perfection of a higher life, they are above the desires of the flesh. A butterfly that takes little nourishment may have an elaborate proboscis. In this case, members of the species, in ancient days, may have sipped nectar from flowers, but gradually left to the caterpillars the work of laying up stores of nourishment, while the sucking organs, now useless, are retained in the insects’ perfect stage.