18 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Art. II. — On the Senses of Bisects. 

 By G. V. Hudson. 



[Presidential Address to the Wellington Philosophical Society, delivered 



25th June, 1901.} 



The few remarks I propose to offer to-night contain but little 

 original matter, and probably many members will find that 

 they are quite familiar with most of the facts about to be 

 related. My primary object in recounting these observations 

 is, however, to show the large amount of valuable work which 

 may be done by any one who is endowed with a fair amount of 

 leisure, and has a taste for observing natural-history objects. 

 Unlike other branches of entomological field-work, the study 

 of the senses and intelligence of insects can be pursued with- 

 out the observer leaving his own home, and this, no doubt, 

 will be a recommendation to many whose health, and other 

 considerations perhaps, do not permit of prolonged visits into 

 the wilds of New Zealand. 



Observations on senses and habits, &c, do not require that 

 minute and technical knowledge of species and genera the 

 acquisition of which is often regarded as dry and laborious. 

 A few of the commonest and most easily recognised insects 

 will suffice for this class of work, and it is only necessary for 

 the student to know the names of these in order that he may 

 place his observations on record. 



I should state that most of the observations here given are 

 taken from the works of Sir John Lubbock (now Lord Ave- 

 bury), who has done so much to encourage the investigation 

 of living insects, and has so clearly shown that the systematic 

 collection and classification of dead insects is not the whole 

 science of entomology, as some entomologists appear to 

 imagine. 



Begarding the senses of insects, there seems to be little 

 doubt that they have in some degree all the senses possessed 

 by man ; but in certain cases these senses are considerably 

 modified. There are also some reasons for supposing that 

 insects may be endowed with other senses which we do not 

 possess, and of which we can consequently have no conception. 

 The most primitive of the senses, that of touch, is undoubtedly 

 possessed by insects in a very marked degree. It was formerly 

 supposed to reside chiefly in the antennas and in the palpi, but 

 more modern investigations tend to show that the sense of 

 touch in insects is chiefly situated in certain special hairs 

 which occur on various parts of the body and appendages. 

 The bases of these hairs penetrate the horny integument of 



