TOUCH IN INSECTS. 205 



be it seated where it may, is exceedingly acute and delicate ; 

 and that though they build and weave without the help 

 of hands, they must be provided with some handy instruments 

 or organs, which to them sufficiently supply the place of that 

 most admirable piece of Divine mechanism. 



The feet of our insect artificers, curiously jointed and often 

 palmed, seem to partake, indeed, of the power, and to perform 

 in some measure the office of our hands ; but in aid of the 

 feet, the antennae and the palpi (four-jointed bodies near the 

 mouth), popularly termed feelers, are also for ever at work to 

 try, touch, and examine. 



The wings are also ranked by Eennie as organs of touch, 

 and as of no mean importance in the guidance of flight, their 

 surface being furnished with nerves adapted to that purpose. 

 He considers it, therefore, probable that Bees may be enabled 

 to return so unerringly to their hives, in part at least, through 

 the varied impressions of air upon their wings. 



The susceptibility evinced by Insects to atmospheric changes 

 and their prescience, in consequence, with regard to weather, 

 is evident to all who are accustomed to observe them. 

 "When," says Kirby, "a tempest is approaching, they are 

 most abundant, and many species may then be taken which 

 are not at other times to be met with ; but before the storm 

 comes on, all disappear." This high sensitivity to electric 

 changes has been attributed to the antennae, and to the hairs 

 with which the bodies of many insects are thickly covered. 



