270 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



while his body hes under the pier of the 

 great telescope, must be moved with 

 gratification at the complete fulfillment 

 of his desire to build a telescope that 

 sliould surpass aU others in its achieve- 

 ments. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



On the Senses, Instincts, and Intelligence 

 OF Animals: with Special Reference to 

 Insects. " International Scientific Series," 

 Vol. LXIV. By Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 M. P., F. R. S. Hew York : D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp. 292. Price, $1.75. 



The name of Lubbock will cause the 

 reader to open this volume with an eager 

 interest that will be amply justified. It is 

 an extension of the investigations recorded 

 by the author in his fascinating work on 

 " Ants, Bees, and Wasps," going further into 

 details of structure and function of the sense- 

 organs of insects, together with some discus- 

 sion of the intelligence displayed by higher 

 animals. In the first half of the book, he 

 gives us the results of his own observations, 

 combined with what other investigators have 

 learned as to the location of each sense in 

 insects, and the structure of the organs in 

 which each resides. He explains the pur- 

 pose of this part of the work as follows: 

 " While attempting to understand the man- 

 ners and customs, habits and behavior of 

 animals, as well as for the purpose of devis- 

 ing test experiments, I have found it neces- 

 sary to make myself acquainted, as far as 

 possible, with the mechanism of the senses, 

 and the organs by means of which sensations 

 are transmitted. With this object I had to 

 look up a great number of memoirs, in vari- 

 ous languages, and scattered through many 

 different periodicals; and it seemed to me 

 that it might be interesting, and save others 

 some of the labor I had to undergo myself, 

 if I were to bring together the notes I had 

 made, and give a list of the principal mem- 

 oirs consulted. I have accordingly attempt- 

 ed to give, very briefly, some idea of the 

 organs of sense, commencing in each case 

 with those of man himself." The list of 

 memoirs to which he alludes is an extended 

 one, occupying eight pages. He begins his 

 descriptions with the sense of touch, " as being 

 the one which is most generally distributed, 



and from which the others appear to have 

 been in some cases developed. The senses 

 are not, indeed, as already mentioned, always 

 to be easily distinguished from one another ; 

 and it would seem that the same nerve may 

 be capable of carrying different sensations 

 according to the structure of the end organs." 

 The inner skin of insects and crustaceans 

 being covered with a layer of horny substance, 

 the sensations of insects, excepting sight, are 

 transmitted by means of hairs projecting 

 through this hard integument. The organs of 

 taste in insects are certain modified hairs situ- 

 ated either in the mouth itself, or on organs 

 immediately surrounding it. Experiments 

 which have been made seem to prove that the 

 sense of smell resides partly in the antennae 

 and partly in the palpi. " This distribution 

 would be manifestly advantageous. The palpi 

 are more suited for the examination of food ; 

 while the antennae are more conveniently 

 situated for the perception of more distant 

 objects." The antennae probably serve partly 

 as organs of touch, and some as organs of pro- 

 tection. The author deems it very probable 

 also that some of them, at least, perform still 

 another function, such as hearing, " while 

 some of these peculiar antennal organs," he 

 says, "though obviously organs of sense, 

 seem to have no special adaptation to any 

 sense of which we are cognizant." That in- 

 sects may have senses of which we are not 

 cognizant, he deems very probable. There 

 are, without doubt, causes in nature which 

 would produce sensations different from any 

 we know of on organs capable of receiving 

 them. For instance. Sir John has shown 

 elsewhere that animals hear sounds which 

 are beyond the range of our hearing, and can 

 perceive the ultra-violet rays, which are in- 

 visible to our eyes. Sound and light are 

 both produced by vibrations. The shrillest 

 sound audible to us results from forty thou- 

 sand vibrations a second, and no light that 

 we can see is produced by less than four hun- 

 dred million millions of vibrations in a second. 

 " But between forty thousand vibrations in a 

 second and four hundred million milhons we 

 have no organ of sense capable of receiving 

 the impression. Yet between these Hmits 

 any number of sensations may exist. We 

 have five senses, and sometimes fancy that 

 no others are possible. But it is obvious 

 that we can not measure the infinite by our 



