SENSES OF INSECTS. 3 



suppose that such impressions upon the eye or the 

 ear are only conveyed to the next nervous centre 

 {ganglion), since they possess no general brain simi- 

 lar to ours, but a number of central points in different 

 parts of the body where the adjacent nerves unite. * 

 Whether, also, insects possess one set of nerves for 

 feeling and another set for motion, as Mr Chares 

 Bell has recently discovered to be the case among 

 larger animals, remains to be ascertained, though 

 analogy would lead us to conclude that they must 

 have something at least similar. Be this as it may, 

 the most obvious mode in which we can discuss the 

 subject before us, is to examine the structure of the 

 organs, and the probable action of objects upon these. 

 It appears to be the most convenient order to begin 

 with the Sense of Touch, and then to take up Taste, 

 Smell, Hearing, and Vision, in succession. 



* See Insect Transformations, pp. 400 and 139. 



