241 
Antenna of Insects. 
conclusion there was only a momentary contact of the anal ex- 
tremity of the bodies of the individuals at the instant of the male 
leaving the female, after which the latter immediately took flight, 
while the male was always busily employed in cleaning his an- 
tennae and limbs. At one time I counted seventeen pairs con- 
nected in the same manner. What was the object of this inter- 
course, if it were not copulation, is very difficult to determine. 
At all events, it seemed to be of the most reciprocal nature, and 
the antennae, so far as I could perceive, were mutually em- 
ployed.* 
In the other orders of insects, as well as in many other Hy- 
menoptera, most of the species with setaceous antennae use them 
occasionally as tactors. Those which have them very long and 
delicate — the Acridce, Kirby — often use them for exploring, in a 
manner similar to the ichneumons. The large green grass-hopper, 
A. viridissima, when searching for food, will frequently first touch 
it cautiously with its antennae, and then examine with its palpi 
before it begins to eat. When passing from one object to another, 
it often uses them in the same manner as if exploring the way 
before it begins to move. That this really is the service the an- 
tennae perform in directing its movements, which are not wholly 
guided by vision, will appear from its often tumbling from its 
hold when moving rapidly over bushes or rugged surfaces. 
The antennae are employed in exactly the same manner by an- 
other insect of the same genus, A. grisea. I once confined several 
of this species for three or four days without water, of which they 
require abundance, feeding them during the time upon leaves which 
were not very succulent. They became emaciated and feeble, and 
almost ceased chirping. Upon moistening the leaves with water, 
they immediately began to drink ; but first, in order to assure 
themselves of the presence of the fluid, they touched it three or 
four times with the antennae, and afterwards with the palpi. What 
more directly proved to me the discriminating faculty of the an- 
tennae was, that when the fluid on the leaf was nearly exhausted, 
the insect felt about with them for the veined or channelled part 
of the leaf’s surface, from which the water might be completely 
drawn off. 
* Mr. Westwood has suggested that the antennae of these males were probably 
used to excite the female preparatory to the connubial intercourse. I fully agree 
witlr him in this opinion. I have seen the antennm used in a similar manner, but 
less actively, by the males of the Meloe during coition, and also by those of 
Athalia centifolite, in which the actual intercourse of tire sexes is almost as mo- 
mentary as it appears to be in the Eupelmus above noticed. The antennaj in these 
instances must, therefore, be endowed with an exquisite sense of touch. 
