PARTS 0» IK3ECTS. 23 



jmrsiiit. Tlie same author deprived crickets, which arc animals noted 

 tor acuteness of hearing, of the antennte ; yet they were equally sen- 

 sible of sound as before. Lehmann concludes on the whole, that as 

 the antcnntc are not the organs of either smell or hearing, their prin- 

 cipal thougli not sole office is feeling. But they are also endowed 

 with an imknown sense, wliich he denominates acroscepsin, and con- 

 jectures that in certain species tliey may contribute to the defence of 

 tlie head. 



Iluber, well known for his ingenious and acute observations on 

 bees, has made several most interesting experiments on the sub- 

 ject. Amputating one oi' the antennit of a queen he found was 

 not attended willi any perceptible effect. Privation of i>oth anten- 

 na^, liovvever, produced very singular consefjuences. M. Huber cut 

 them from a queen whose fecundation had been retarded, so that 

 «he laid none but the eggs of males. From tiiat moment a marked 

 alteration in her conduct was seen; she traversed the combs with 

 extraordinary rapidity, scarcely had the workers time to recede be- 

 fore her; and, instead of tlie care which a perfect queen displays in 

 depositing her eggs in those places alone suitable for their exclu- 

 sion, she dropped them at random without selecting proper cells : she 

 retired to the most solitary parts of the hive, seeming to avoid the 

 bees, and long remained motionless. Several workers, however, fol- 

 lowed her there, and treated her with the most evident respect. She 

 seldom required honey from them ; but when that was tlie case, she 

 directed her trunk with a kind of uncertain feeling, sometimes on the 

 head and sometimes on the limbs of the workers; and if she did reach 

 their mouths it was by chance. Queens leave tlieir hive but once in 

 tlieir whole lives, which is for the purpose of obtaining impregnation; 

 they remain voluntary prisoners ev(;r afterwards, unless in leading out 

 a swarm. This queen, however, seemed eager to escape; she rushed 

 towards the opening of the hive, but finding it too small for her exit she 

 returned after fruitless exertion. IS'otwitlistanding the symptoms of 

 delirium by which she was agitated, tlie workers never ceased to pay 

 her the same attention as they invariably do their queens, though she 

 received it witli indifterence. 



Apprehensive tliat the queen's instinct might be impaired, from her 

 organization suffering by retarded fecundation, M. Iluber deprived 

 anotlier female of the antennae, and introduced her into the hive. She 

 ■was quite in the natural state, and had already proved of great fertility: 

 but now she exhibited exactly the same symptoms of agitation and de- 

 lirium that the other had done. Perfect queens, possessing all their 

 organs, testify the most violent animosity against each other; they 

 fight repeatedly ; the workers seem to incite them to combat, until 

 one at length falls, while the other survives to presen'e and perpetuate 

 the colony. INIutilated of the antenna?, ho^^■ever; they testily oo reci- 



