HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



29 



We have taken a cursory glance at the maiu fea- 

 tures of the Cuttles, animals which, from their fero- 

 cious disposition and terrible weapons, may fairly 

 rank as the tigers of the deep. Yet we must by no 

 means look upon these destroyers as beings whose 

 absence would leave no gap, or be even beneficial. 

 On the contrary, they are most necessary, and are a 

 part of the scheme of nature by means of which 

 creatures are kept within bounds from excessive 

 increase through counterbalancing causes. It is 

 one of the precepts of Providence that seems strange 

 and revolting at first sigiit, that throughout all 

 creation there should be such a sanguinary scene as 

 that of the cruel methods by which the carnivorous 

 tribes procure their prey. As it is with the higher 

 mammalia, so is it with these cuttles ; the more the 

 difficulties and dangers that beset the existence of 

 an animal, the more are its means of defence aug- 

 mented. Tbe pursuit of prey forms a large part of 

 the occupation of the Cuttles, as also does flight 

 from their numerous foes. These twofold require- 

 ments bring into action a number of accomplish- 

 ments, so to speak, which, but for their carnivorous 

 nature and that of their enemies, would never have 

 been called into existence. But for the urgent calls 

 for self-preservation, both as shown in flight from 

 enemies and pursuit of prey, a great sameness and 

 inactivity would be visible in all the manifold pro- 

 ductions of nature. It was never meant that 

 animals should drag on a miserable existence merely 

 to keep gorging themselves with food. No ; under 

 such a state of affairs what would be the aspect the 

 world would present ? A number of beings grovel- 

 ling on the earth with no other care than that of 

 filling their paunches to satiety, and totally destitute 

 of the life and busy activity which is to be seen 

 everywhere around under the present state of affairs. 

 The sudden extinction of all cuttles would also 

 create a great blank in the police of nature; we 

 should have several creatures increasing at such a 

 rate as to become positively baneful. It is interest- 

 ing to notice the many forms which cuttles possess, 

 all called into being by a felt need. The female 

 Argonauta fabricates a delicate shell wherein her 

 eggs are laid to prevent their being injured by the 

 rapid rush of water or devoured by predacious 

 fishes ; the male, having no eggs to protect, does not 

 require a shell, and so has not got one. Nearly all 

 cuttle are provided with a supply of ink to aid them 

 in esciping from their enemies, by rendering the 

 water so dark and turbid that they are not visible^ 

 Yet the Nautilus has no ink — and why ? Because 

 its mode of protecting itself is by simply retreating 

 within the shell, where it is perfectly protected 

 from all foes by the strong membrane which forms 

 a cover to the mouth of the shell. And we might 

 miiltiply instances indefinitely, but the few above 

 will show how a variety of powers is called forth by 

 the needs of self-preservation. 



THE ANTENNJil OF INSECTS. 

 By Mk. T. W. Wonfor. 



'\17E copy the report of the following very inter- 

 ' ' esting and instructive paper, recently read 

 before the Brighton Natural History Society, from 

 the Brighton Daily News, a paper which has already 

 distinguished itself by the prominence it gives to 

 popular scientific subjects. 



Few, if any, organs belonging to the different 

 members of the animal world present such a diver- 

 sity of form, or have led to so great a difference of 

 opinion among naturalists respecting the special 

 office they fulfil in the animal economy as the an- 

 tenna, the jointed organs situated on the head in 

 most of the different members of tbe great family of 

 articuhita. "While the Crustacea possess two pair, 

 the myriapoda and insecia are furnished with a single 

 pair only ; in the last-named the form, number of 

 joints, and sundry other particulars are used as a 

 means of classifying the different genera and species. 



They are generally spoken of as consisting of three 

 parts,— the basal joint, connected with the head by 

 a ball-and-socket movement called the torulus, is 

 designated by the term scapus ; the next portion, 

 generally cylindrical in form and often very minute 

 in size, is called the pedicella ; while the rest of the 

 antenna is called the clavola. That the form is 

 different is evident to all who have examined any 

 class of insects, while the terms moniliform, seta- 

 ceous, clavatc, pectinated, eusiform, plumose, lamel- 

 late, &c., indicate the nature of some of these differ- 

 ences; and simply as objects exhibiting diversity 

 of appearance with possible identity of office, they 

 form an instructive series worthy the attention o? 

 the microscopist. 



Apart from this diversity of form, the antennae 

 deserve especial attention, because, as before men- 

 tioned, it is not yet absolutely determined what is 

 their especial function, or in which part any one of 

 the functions attributed to them is situated. 



Different writers have assigned to the antennai the 

 three several senses of touch, hearing, and smelling 

 and all adduce illustrations, or the existence of parts 

 in these organs, to warrant their respective views. 

 That they are organs of sensation none deny, but 

 which, or how many of the three senses above named 

 they constitute, is still a moot question, though the 

 microscope in the hand of Dr. Hicks and others has 

 done much in recent days to help to unravel the 

 mystery. 



Those who have watched the actions of ants or 

 bees must have been struck with the use made by 

 these creatures of their antennae, as a means of 

 communicating information to each other. How 

 this information is conveyed, or how they converse, 

 apparently, by the mere contact of their antennae is 

 certainly not known ; but that they do convey infor- 



