NOTKS, CAPTUUKS, KTC. 2 33 



in sheltered situations, but their mines are far less distinct 

 than the conspicuous white blotches of the preceding. 

 Coleophora paripennella : this appears to be a general 

 feeder, having myself found the cases containing larva) 

 occasionally on wild apple, elm, hop, sallow, hawthorn, 

 bramble, blackthorn, dewberry, birch, and hazel, but they 

 give a decided preference to the latter ; they are comparatively 

 common this year, and I doubt not may be collected for the 

 next two or three weeks. Among thistles in a well sheltered 

 situation I found eight full-fed larvae of Coleophora Theri- 

 nella. — W. Machin; 22, Argyle Road, Carlton Square, E., 

 September 18, 1878. 



Thic Seat of the Sense of Smell in Insects. — Those 

 who contend that the antennae of insects are their organs of 

 scent are sometimes told that there is a total lack of direct 

 observations in support of their view. Whilst declining to 

 admit this assertion (see ' Nature,' July 18, 1878, p. 302) I 

 must beg to mention a few observations I have made upon 

 wasps, and which doubtless numbers of entomologists will be 

 able to confirm from their own experience. That wasps 

 have an acute scent, and seek their prey or their food bv its 

 means, will be I think generally admitted. When a wasp 

 alights upon a table, a window, or any other surface, and 

 begins running about in quest of booty, its antennae are kept 

 in constant play, touching the surface on which the insect is 

 travelling in all directions, in a manner which strongly 

 resembles the action of a dog when seeking something by 

 scent. This week I saw a wasp take a dead house-Hy and 

 begin devouring it, its antennae being all the time rapidly and 

 incessantly touching the carcase. Now we can readily under- 

 stand an animal sniffing at its food ; but no one surely ever 

 saw or can conceive of any creature applying its organs of 

 hearing to the object it was devouring. Another wasp iiaving 

 found a dead companion on a shelf began to eat it, — the 

 only instance of cannibalism I have noticed in the species, — 

 using its antennae in precisely the same manner. When a 

 wasp is flying it keeps its antennae advanced and extended, 

 so as to be in the most favourable position for receiving the 

 impression from any odoriferous substance. These facts L 

 submit agree perfectly with the hypothesis that the antennae 

 are the organs of scent. That they may possibly subserve 

 other senses, also, I do not seek to deny. — J. W. Slater ; 

 3, Bicester Road, Aylesbury. 



Insectivorous Plants. — Referring again to the subject of 



2h 



