60 ON THE ANTENN.JE AND HEARING OF INSECTS. 



I have said, that insects are proved by observation to be furnished 

 with an organ of hearing. It is, indeed, scarcely probable that 

 creatures such as the tree-hopper (Cicada), and the locust (Locusta), 

 to which nature has given the faculty of producing a peculiar sound 

 by means of an appropriate organ, should, at the same time, be 

 deprived of the means of hearing such sounds, inasmuch as these can 

 have reference only to their own kindred. It is still farther proved, 

 that these insects share the faculty of hearing, along with all other 

 living beings, by their ceasing to sing the instant they fear they have 

 been discovered. 



When observing the various actions of insects, we see them sud- 

 denly stretch their antennae forwards in case of noise, danger, or, in 

 general, when any thing is done to attract their attention ; and they 

 keep them thus stretched forward as long as their attention continues, 

 a circumstance which proves that the antennse serve the purpose of 

 apprising them of what passes at a distance, and consequently must 

 either be organs of hearing or organs of smell. M. Reaumur, (Mem. 

 des Insectes, i. 643,) while he rejects the opinion that the antennse 

 serve to explore objects, thinks it possible they may be the organs 

 either of some unknown sense or of smell. The latter opinion, how- 

 ever, is supported by no fact either anatomical or physiological ; nor 

 is it at all even probable, inasmuch as the antennas are not soft and 

 lubricated, as observation proves to be necessary for this kind of sen- 

 sation : it appears to me more plausible to infer that the antennae 

 serve for the perception of sounds. This opinion is founded partly on 

 the analogy of what occurs in the larger animals, who prick up their 

 ears under similar circumstances in order to hear better ; and partly 

 because, on following the progress of degradation* in the organ of 

 hearing from the first of the vertebrate animals ( Vertebrata), we arrive 

 again in the last analysis at the antennae of articulated animals, by a 

 sort of transition occurring in the lobster and craw-fish (Astacus), a 

 genus in which this organ occurs in the simplest form, compared with 

 that of superior animals. 



[The author here goes into several details illustrative of this last 

 statement, which we shall omit, as of less weight than what follows.] 



The solidity of the envelope of antennas renders these organs well 

 adapted to undergo the same vibrations as the air, in the same manner 



* I cannot but deeply regret to see a naturalist of M. Straus-Diirckheim's great 

 ability, thus vitiating his valuable work, as he does throughout, with the cant terms 

 of Lamarck's most absurd theory. EDIT. 



