458 N. E. McINDOO 
The investigators who have performed experiments on flies 
with mutilated antennae have concluded that these appendages 
bear the olfactory organs, regardless of whether or not the anten- 
nal organs are anatomically fitted to receive olfactory stimuli. 
Since these investigators failed to study sufficiently the behavior 
of the insects investigated, it is possible that the responses 
observed misled them in determining the seat of the olfactory 
organs. 
In 1857 Hicks discovered porelike organs on the wings and 
halteres of flies, and claims that they are similar in structure and 
probably have the same function, that of smell. He was able 
to trace a nerve to each group of organs, the one going to the 
halter being the larger. The same author (’59) found these 
organs in Hippobosca equina and Tipula olerocea, and in 1860 
discovered them on the legs of various insects, including Diptera. 
In the same year Leydig described and figured the same organs 
on the halteres of Calliphora (Musca) vomitoria and Eristalis 
tenax. Each one of the foregoing authors was able to trace nerves 
to these pores, but they could not understand the internal anat- 
omy of them. 
Graber (’82) described and figured these organs on the wings 
and halteres of several Diptera, and called them chordotonal 
organs, because he thought the peripheral ends of the sense cells 
were sensory chords. 
Lee (’85) described and figured in detail these structures on 
the halteres of Calliphora vomitoria, but he, like the preceding 
authors, failed to understand their internal anatomy. 
The paper of Weinland (’90) is the most comprehensive one 
dealing with the sense organs found on the halteres, and as a 
whole it is the best, although he did not clearly understand the 
anatomy of these structures. He gives a good review of the 
literature pertaining to the halteres, and according to him the 
earliest writers (beginning in 1711) said that these appendages 
served in maintaining the equilibrium of the insect while flying; 
hence the Latin name, halferes and the English translation, 
balanciers. About a century later experiments proved that 
flies with amputated halteres could fly, although not as well, 
