2iS SENSES OF INSECTS. 
head ; and what has weighed most witli me, unless they 
are allowed as such, no other organ can have any pre- 
tension to be considered as representing the ear. If we 
reflect, that in every other part and organ, the head of 
insects has an analogy to that of Mammalia, we must 
regard it as improbable that these prominent organs 
should not also have their representative. Admitting 
then that they are the analogues of ears, it will follow, 
not as demonstratively certain, but as probable, that 
their primary function may be something related to hear- 
ing. I do not say direct hearing, or that the vibrations 
of sound are communicated to the sensorium by a com- 
plex structure analogous to that of the internal ear in 
Mammalia — but something related to hearing. I con- 
ceive that antennas, by a peculiar structure, may collect 
notices from the atmosphere, receive pulses or vibra- 
tions, and communicate them to the sensorium, which, 
though not precisely to be called hearing, may answer 
the same purpose. From the compound eyes that most 
of them have, the sense of seeing in insects must be very 
different from what it is in vertebrate animals ; and yet 
we do not hesitate to call it sight : but since antennae, 
as we shall see, apparently convey a mixed sensation, I 
shall have no objection, admitting it as their primary 
function, to call it after Lehmann Aeroscepsy* . I lately 
related some instances of sound producing an effect on 
the antenna; of insects: I will now mention another that 
I observed, still more remarkable. A little moth was 
reposing upon my window ; I made a quiet, not loud, 
but distinct noise: the antenna nearest to me immediately 
' De Antenn. Insect, ii. 65 — . 
