22 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



the peculiar forms of the antennae. We should be 

 more disposed to refer to the hairs with which the 

 bodies of most insects are beset, and which, from the 

 analogy of quadrupeds, may be presumed to be acted 

 on by atmospherical electricity. This is rendered 

 more probable from the feelings which most persons 

 experience during a thunder-storm, which cannot be 

 referred to any circumscribed organ as light is to the 

 eye, but to a certain vague sensation of nervous 

 languor or uneasiness diffused through the body. 

 Bees, it may be remarked, which exhibit the most 

 acute feelings of electric changes, are among the 

 most hairy of all insects, while their thick bent 

 antennae do not correspond to those which Kirby 

 deems best adapted for detecting electricity. It is 

 but right to state, however, that it is added by the 

 author — ' upon this head I wish to make no positive 

 assertion, I only suggest the probability of the 

 opinion.'* 



* Intr. iv, 246 



