236 
Mr. G. Newport on the. 
other part of the premises. It was one of the tribes of insects 
thus proved to possess the faculty of smelling to a considerable 
extent that was chosen as the subject for my experiments on the 
antennas of the water-beetles. The individual was a female of 
Hydaticus cinereus. This appeared the more fitted for the pur- 
pose because the species has setaceous antennae, and thus appears 
to offer a more fair comparison with that of the ichneumon above 
noticed. I had purposely confined the insect for three days 
without food in a cup about half filled with water, and, at the ex- 
piration of that time, attached a small piece of raw flesh to the 
end of a wire, and carried it several times along the sides of the 
insect, particularly near the spiracles, where it was suffered to 
remain for a short time ; the insect however did not appear to 
perceive it, but during the whole time remained in the water per- 
fectly undisturbed. The flesh was then carried very near to one 
of the antennae, but without exciting the slightest motion in that 
organ, while the insect began to move its palpi very briskly, as 
if it detected the presence of something, but continued in other 
respects motionless as before. The flesh was then brought in 
direct contact with the antennae, and the insect immediately with- 
drew them as if annoyed, as in the experiment with the Sylpha. 
It was then carried exactly in front, and at about the distance of 
an inch ; the palpi were instantly in rapid motion, and the crea- 
ture, darting forward, seized the flesh, and began to devour it 
most voraciously. The following day the experiment was re- 
peated several times, and with precisely the same result, but on 
this occasion the antennae were so repeatedly touched with the 
flesh, that the annoyed insect kept them at last beneath the sides 
of the thorax. 
Hence I think it must appear that, from there being no altera- 
tion in the motions of the insect when the food was held near the 
sides of its body, the sense of smelling does not reside in the 
spiracles, nor, for like reasons, in the antennae ; while, from the 
motion of the palpi and the avidity with which the insect darted 
upon the food when held in front of it, it seems but fair to con- 
clude that the sense of smelling must certainly reside in the head, 
as above suggested. 
The next experiments were on insects with pectinated antennae, 
and these, it will be seen, discover their food by means of the 
olfactory sense. The specimen chosen for my purpose was a 
male stag-beetle, Lucanus Cervus. It had been confined in a 
wooden box about fourteen days, entirely without food. Feeling 
satisfied, from an examination of the parts of the mouth, that 
