INSECTS IN RAIN. 363 



the walls, scrambling into the dishes, drowning 

 themselves in the soup-tureens, or putting out 

 the lights with their bodies. In hot and sultry 

 weather, when a black cloud or two in the far 

 horizon give token of a coming storm, insects 

 abound in the air ; but as the heavens grow black, 

 they disappear; and before a drop of rain has 

 actually fallen, we may look in vain for them. 



That the antennas are the organs by which this 

 knowledge of coming events with regard to the 

 weather is obtained by the insects, appears pro- 

 bable. They may, perhaps, perceive by their 

 delicate surfaces, changes in the electrical condi- 

 tion of the air, which are quite insensible to 

 ourselves: and as all change of weather is pre- 

 ceded and accompanied by changes of electrical 

 balance of one kind or another in the air, they 

 may be thus forewarned of the coming danger. 

 The following is the manoeuvre of a large number 

 of insects of the beetle tribe. When they are 

 about to move from any station where they have 

 been at rest, the first thing they usually do 

 before they move a step, is to bring forward and 

 expand their antenna3, which have previously been 

 folded up out of the way. They open them as 



