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How wonderfully the maxillæ of the Lepidoptera are modified, and the peculiar shapes assumed in the Diptera, Hymenoptera, and other groups, will be stated in the accounts of those orders, but it is well to recall the fact that in the most primitive and generalized moth, Eriocephala, the lacinia is well developed (Fig. 64).

As Newport remarks, the office of the maxillæ in the mandibulate insects is of a twofold kind; since they are adapted not only for seizing and retaining the food in the mouth, but also as accessory jaws, since they aid the mandibles in comminuting it before it is passed on to the pharynx and swallowed. Hence, as the food varies so much in nature and situation, it will be readily seen that the maxillæ, especially their distal parts, vary correspondingly. Thus far no close observations on the exact use of the first and second maxillæ have been published.

The palpi also are not only organs of touch, but in some cases act as hands and also bear minute sense-organs, the function of which is unknown, but would appear to be usually that of smell.