Packaud] mental powers OF INSECTS. 355 



ring of a circus, though the latter may have the most self- 

 possession of the two. 



In his "Observations on Bees and Wasps," Sir John Lub- 

 bock says that "though bees do not come out at night, they 

 seem to be much affected by light. One evening I lit a 

 small covered lamp to go down to the cellar. A bee which 

 was out came to it, and, flying round and round like a moth, 

 followed me the whole of the way there." 



Insects are, like most animals, extremely sensitive to elec- 

 trical phenomena. Just before a thunder shower they are 

 particularly restless, flying about in great numbers and with- 

 out an}' apparent object. The appendages of insects, their 

 feelers and their legs, must be provided with exquisitely sen- 

 sitive organs to enable them to receive impressions from 

 without. 



Everybod}- knows that insects have acute powers of sight. 

 That they also hear acutely is a matter of frequent observa- 

 tion. Often in walking through dry bushes the noise of one's 

 feet in crushing through the undergrowth, starts up hosts of 

 moths, disturbed in their noonday repose. If insects did not 

 hear acutely, why should the Cicada have such a shrill cry? 

 For whose ears is the song of the cricket designed unless for 

 those of some other cricket? All the songs, the cries and 

 hum of insect life have their purpose in nature and are use- 

 less unless they warn off or attract some other insect. 



We know with a good degree of certainty that some 

 insects have an acute sense of smell. The carrion beetles 

 scent their booty afar off; the ants, the moths, all the insects 

 attracted to flowers b}' the smell of the honc}- in them, evi- 

 dently have well developed organs of smell. 



Insects evidently have, like man, perceptive faculties. Let 

 us now examine the organs of sense and the nervous system 

 of insects, and thus approach the subject of the instinctive 

 and reasoning powers of these animals from the side of 

 anatomy and physiology. 



