83 
Again, as he had stated on several occasions, the males of some 
species of moths were attracted by the females under such conditions 
as to lead to the idea that either the sense of smell was wonderfully 
acute, or that they possessed some sense not yet determined by 
physiologists. Placed in boxes, either carried in the coat-pocket, putin 
a basket, or shut up in a leather bag, the perceptive faculty had been 
so strong in the males, that they had been seen flying over the top of a 
wood at least 300 yards off. Nay,more, hehad had them settle upon him- 
self, when the box, containing the female, was no longer in the pocket. 
His idea was that some of the scent imperceptible to man clung to the 
garment. 
Among the authorities inclining to the idea that the antenne were 
the organs of hearing were Sulzer, Scarpa, Schneider, Bockhauser, 
Burmeister, Carus, Oken, Kirby and Spence, Newport and Hicks. On 
the side of those who considered them organs of smell were Reaumer, 
Lyonet, Robineau Desvoidy, Kiister, Erichson, and Vost. 
It might be asked—Had the microscope done anything, and, if so, 
what, in solving these difficulties ? Newport in 1831 (“Transactions of 
the Entomological Society,” vol. ii., p. 229) found all the joints, except 
the second, of Jchneumon Atropos perforated all round by very minute 
holes. He observed also trachez passing up the whole length of the 
antenne, and giving off branches at every joint, and which, as he con- 
sidered, communicated with the holes in the wall of the antenne. Of 
this though he was not quite certain. He stated that the same 
structure existed in most setaceous antenne. 
E. F. Erichson published at Berlin in 1847 his “ Dissertatio de 
fabrica et usu antennarum in Insectis” in which he enunciated these 
laws: 1st. The wall of the antennz in insects is by no means solid, 
but perforated by numerous openings. 2nd. These openings are closed 
on the inner side by a membrane. 3rd. The openings in the antenne 
of different insects are arranged in different ways. He also showed that 
these openings were never found in the basal joint. He considered the 
numerous hairs found in the antennz, between the pores or openings, 
protected them from extraneous bodies, and that the pores were 
organs of smell, because “ as the olfactory organs of the higher animals 
are moist membranes, in order that the odorous particles may be 
dissolved by the humour secreted, in the same way these membranes 
performed the same office, were protected by the downy hairs, and 
_kept moist by them.” Another reason why he considered them organs 
of smell was that they were most numerous in those tribes of insects 
whose scent was acute. 
