12 DONALDSON BODINE. 



The senses which might be supposed to have their peripheral or- 

 gans in the antennse are touch, taste, smell, and hearing. The evi- 

 dences of their existence we may class under two heads : histological 

 and physiological, normal, and artificial or experimental. 



Touch. — A very little observation will convince one that the an- 

 tennse arc peculiarly sensitive to . impressions of touch, and it seems 

 very probable that the several types of sense-hairs already described 

 are especially adapted to the receptio'is of such impressions. Blix* 

 holds that in man all hairs are organs of touch, though at the same 

 time they serve for protection. The sensation of pressure at least is 

 closely associated with the hairs. In insects where the body is cov- 

 ered with a hard sliell of chitin, we may fairly assume that the hairs 

 are even more effective as intermediate organs between the external 

 influence and the nerve termination. It is not at all improbable that 

 the diflerent types of hairs are receptive of diflferent sorts of sensa- 

 tions, as of touch, j^ressure, weight, etc. The greater abundance of 

 hairs in the nocturnal nioths and their sparser distribution among 

 the diurnal forms would seem to be correlated with their use as 

 touch organs. One who has watched Ctenucha virginica, or some 

 form of night-flying moth, will have little doubt that the antennse 

 serve as "feelers." It may not be impossible or even improbable 

 that the sense of touch in these organs is not limited to conditions 

 of actual contact with the objects perceived. Many phenomena 

 connected with the actions of moths possessing these organs very 

 highly developed point to the conclusion that there must be a sort 

 of feeling at a distance sucii as we know of among some higher 

 forms which are sightless. 



Taste. — Histologically, we might suppose it possible that the pits 

 and rods or the cones might function as organs of taste. Some authors 

 hold that during life the pits may be filled with a mucous secretion. 

 I do not think so, but if there were a fluid in them the api)aratus 

 would closely a[)i)ro\'imate the condition found to prevail in the 

 taste organs of the higher animals. Experiments, however, have 

 shown pretty conclusively that taste does not reside in the antennre. 

 It has been found that by the use of the antennae waspsf could not 

 distinguish powdered sugar from alum or dolomite, and only recog- 

 nized the difference when some of the substance reached the mouth. 



* Exper. Beitrage zur Losung der Frage iiber die Specif. Energie der Hautner- 

 veu. Zeit. fur Biologie, 1885. 



t Uas (xeschniacksorgan der liisektcii. F. Will. Zeit. fur wiss. Zoologie. IHM."), p. 

 674. 



