376 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



organ of this sense, opinions are greatly at vari- 

 ance. Some believe it to exist in the spiracles, 

 some in the mouth, and some in a special organ 

 which they call the nose, but which does not seem 

 in reality to fulfil that office, at any rate, in the 

 generality of cases. M. Huber showed the exist- 

 ence of this faculty to lie somewhere about the 

 mouth, by some interesting experiments upon 

 bees. He presented successively to all parts of a 

 bee's body a camel-hair pencil dipped in oil of 

 turpentine, to which most insects are extremely 

 averse, but the bee took no notice of it. He then 

 took a very fine hair pencil, while the bee had 

 extended its proboscis, and presented it to its eyes 

 and antennae without effect ; but when he pointed 

 it near the cavity of the mouth, above the inser- 

 tion of the proboscis, the creature started back in 

 an instant, quitted its food, clapped its wings, and 

 walked about in great agitation, and would have 

 taken flight if the pencil had not been removed. 

 On this it began to eat again ; but on the experi- 

 ment being repeated, it showed signs of similar 

 discomposure ; oil of marjoram produced the same 

 effect, and more promptly and entirely. He then 

 seized several bees, forced them to unfold their 



