Vm PREFACE 



We are in the midst, therefore, of a revolution in sensory physio- 

 logy. There is no better evidence for this than the high element of 

 controversy that flourishes in many areas indicating that exploration 

 is still in its early stages. This state of affairs is best illustrated by the 

 controversies in photoreception. The final verdict is by no means 

 rendered. In many cases our knowledge is still in a state of flux. 

 While every effort has been made in this book to present both sides 

 of questions, a personal bias has been applied. This bias is fashioned 

 by an appraisal of how well the antagonists have presented their 

 cases in the literature. 



Recent advances in the physiology of the insect sensory system 

 have proceeded at such a pace that it is impossible to refer to every 

 published report. In the field of sound reception alone there are over 

 2,000 articles. For all phases of this book, about 2,000 references in 

 toto have been examined. Of these, about 700 have been selected for 

 listing, but the accumulated knowledge of others has been built upon 

 freely. For the reader interested in the older literature, the works of 

 Demoll and von Buddenbrock should be consulted. For all purposes, 

 the works of Wigglesworth and Roeder are invaluable. Where 

 possible, references have been made to reviews rather than to the 

 multitudes of individual papers. Where an investigator has published 

 a series of papers on a given subject, only the most recent has been 

 quoted unless an eariier paper is germane to some particular point. 

 During the period of preparation of this book insect physiologists 

 have not been idle. The most recent papers have probably been 

 treated somewhat cavalierly, since a running revision is hardly 

 feasible, but at the very least they are included in the references to 

 assist the reader in pursuing the matter himself. 



The segment of knowledge represented by this book has been 

 rather narrowly circumscribed, a circumstance dictated by the enor- 

 mous volume of literature but ameliorated by the fact that other 

 excellent volumes exist to fill the lacunae. The subject matter has 

 been 'sensory physiology'; behaviour, as such, has been neglected. 

 It is well represented, however, by Carthy's fine book, by Roeder, 

 by Wigglesworth, and by von Buddenbrock. Also, I have not ven- 

 tured farther into the central nervous system than the lamina gang- 

 lionaris of the optic lobes, partly because I have been interested 

 primarily in sensory input and the interaction of sense organs and 

 their environment and possibly because one naturally hesitates to 

 venture far into an unexplored jungle. And finally, the temperature 

 sense has been completely neglected. This, in part, merely reflects the 



