The Hunting Wasps 



iferous to an insect through the intervening 

 obstacle of the ground. The senses, if they 

 have the same functions, have the same ex- 

 citants, from man to the Infusoria. No ani- 

 mal, so far as I know, can see clearly in what 

 to us is absolute darkness. True, it may be 

 said that, in the zoological progression, per- 

 ception, always fundamentally the same, has 

 varying degrees of power: this species is 

 capable of more and that species of less; 

 what is perceptible to one is imperceptible to 

 another. This is perfectly right; and yet the 

 insect, generally considered, does not appear 

 to possess exceptional keenness of scent: the 

 effluvia that attract it are perceived without 

 a sense of smell of unusual delicacy. When 

 Dermestes, Silphae and Histers pour into the 

 chalice of a carrion-scented arum lily, never 

 to come out again; when swarms of Flies 

 buzz around a dead Dog's blue and swollen 

 belly, the whole neighbourhood reeks with 

 the stench. It hardly requires a scent of ex- 

 quisite accuracy on the insect's part to dis- 

 cover putrid meat and rotten cheese. Wher- 

 ever we see its hordes gather, with scent for 

 their undoubted guide, we ourselves are cog- 

 nizant of a smell. 



There remains hearing. This is another 

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