ORGAN OF SMELL. 65 



sorbed by the smell of the honey or their organs less 

 exposed. To ascertain this, we tried the following 

 experiment : — We seized several bees, and obHg- 

 ing them to stretch out their sucker, we filled 

 their mouths with flour paste, and when it was dry 

 enough to prevent their rubbing it off, we set them 

 at liberty. They did not appear to suffer any incon- 

 venience, and breathed and moved with the same 

 facility as their companions. But now honey failed 

 to attract them, for they neither approached it, nor, 

 so far as we observed, were they affected by odours 

 in other cases offensive to them. We dipped pencils 

 in oil of turpentine and cloves, in ether, in fixed and 

 volatile alkalies, and insinuated their points very near 

 the mouth, where we had previously found them 

 so sensitive ; but the odour of these fluids, which 

 would have occasioned a sudden shock to bees in 

 their natural state, had no effect upon them. On the 

 contrary, several mounted on the impregnated pencils, 

 and even traversed them with impunity : consequently 

 their sense of smelling was obstructed by the paste 

 put into their mouths. ' * 



Humboldt, in referring to Lyonnet's admirable 

 anatomy of the caterpillar of the goatmoth, takes oc- 

 casion to blame authors for drawing general conclu- 

 sions from one insect to another, ]' and certainly in 

 some cases this might lead to error ; but, in many 

 others, the converse might be equally illogical, as ap- 

 pears, for example, from the singular opinions of Com- 

 paretti.J He supposes that the organs of smell are 

 situated in different organs in different families of 

 insects. In beetles {Geotru'pes stercorarius, Sfc,) he 

 thinks it resides in the knob of the antennas ; 



* Huber on Bees, p. 264. 

 t Ueber die gereizte Muskelfaser, i, 273, Not. 

 X De Aure Interna Compar. p. 288 — 304. 

 VOL. XII. 6* 



