178 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



head, and to the mucous linii^ of the 

 mouth ; while Kirby and Spence have 

 thought that they have discovered a 

 nose in the fore part of the head, 

 which they call the rhinarium or nos- 

 tril-piece, connected with which is a 

 beautifully striated structure, which 

 they have described as the veritable 

 organs of smell. 



I am indebted to Dr. Hagan, of 

 Cambridge. Mass., for the following 

 information as to the location of these 

 organs, drawn from Hauser : Zeitschrift 

 f. wisenschaft Zoologie, 1880. The 

 Record has just been received, and it 

 gives the latest observations of the 

 best investigators. 



Strong smelling substance, as tur- 

 pentine, carbolic acid, and decayed 

 meats, proved that the organs of smell 

 were situated in the antennae in very 

 many insects. Nevertheless, not all 

 the insects employed in the experi- 

 ments were deprived of the sense after 

 the amputation of the antennae, among 

 which were Carabus, Pyrrhocoris, &c. 

 After the antennae were cut the males 

 rarely mated. 



Sensitive bristles are present in Or- 

 thoptera {(Edipoda and Caloptenus) on 

 every joint of the antennae after the 

 eighth or ninth, and fifty sensitive pits 

 or furrows, which are probably closed 

 by a fine membrane and have interiorly 

 one smelling-rod. Stenohothrus and 

 Gryllotalpa are similarly provided. 

 Diptera (flies) have in the third joint 

 100 to 200 furrows, with as many as 

 200 sensitive bristles. Vanessa has on 

 each joint of the knob of the antennae 

 fifty furrows. Of the Coleoptera, the 

 Carabids, Cerambycids and Ourculion- 

 ides, possess no antennal furrows, while 

 they are present in the Silphides, Sta- 

 phylinides, and Tenebrionides. The 

 Lamellicornes have on the under side 

 an immense number of very small fur- 

 rows, viz., in the female, 17,500, and 

 in the male 39,000. 



All insects which have to rely upon- 

 the sense of smell for discovering their 

 food or placing their eggs possess many 

 sensitive furrows or pits in the an- 

 tennae, as bees, wasps, ichneumons, 

 Diptera and Lepidoptera. 



Dr. Hagen suggests that probably in 

 many insects the organs of smell and 

 taste are united. Such may be the 

 organs which are found in the honey- 

 bee in the epipharynx (on underside of 

 the labrum), consisting of numerous 

 sensorial furrows, and which have just 

 been discovered in the same position 

 in Aphis and Cicada, by Mr. H. Os- 

 born, of the Iowa State Agricultural 

 College. 



THE NEW WHITE GRAPES. 



A young inquirer wishes to know 

 the comparative quality and value of 

 four new white grapes which he names, 

 namely, the Duchess, Pocklington, 

 Prentiss and Niagara. Without having 

 had an opportunity of examining them 

 critically side by side, we should place 

 the Duchess first in quality, a draw- 

 back being its one-fourth foreign blood, 

 and the fear that this intermixture may 

 possibly injure the foliage in future. 

 Next in flavor would be the Prentiss, 

 a strictly native sort, of excellent qual- 

 ity, but not equal in this respect to the 

 Duchess. The Niagara, although one 

 notch lower in flavor, is larger, finer in 

 appearance, a prodigious grower and 

 bearer, and on the whole has an un- 

 usual number of excellent points not 

 found combined in any other variety. 

 The Pocklington is still larger, and 

 perhaps more showy than the Niagara, 

 but a notch farther down in quality at 

 the usual time of ripening. We are 

 informed, however, that if allowed to 

 hang sevei'al weeks it becomes excel- 

 lent. These four sorts all stand high, 

 and are all eminently worthy of trial. — 

 From the Country Gentleman. 



