274 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



integuments of the greater number, precludes them from im- 

 parting any accurate perceptions of touch. 



It has been conjectured that the antennas of insects are the 

 organs of other senses besides that of touch. If an insect be 

 deprived of its antennae, it either remains motionless, or if it 

 attempt to walk or fly, appears bewildered, and moves with- 

 out any apparent object. Huber found that bees are ena- 

 bled, by feeling with their antennas, to execute their various 

 works in the interior of the hive, where, of course, they can 

 have no assistance from light. They employ these organs 

 perpetually while building the combs, pouring honey into 

 the magazines, ascertaining the presence of the queen, and 

 feeding and tending the larvae. The same naturalist ob- 

 serves, also, that it is principally by means of the antennae 

 that these social insects communicate to one another their 

 impressions and their wants. 



The different modes in which ants, when they happen to 

 meet during their excursions, mutually touch one another 

 with their antennae, appears to constitute a kind of natural 

 language understood by the whole tribe. This contact of 

 the antennae evidently admits of a great variety of modifica- 

 tions, and seems capable of supplying all the kinds of in- 

 formation which these insects have occasion to impart. It 

 would seem impossible, indeed, for all the individuals com- 

 posing these extensive societies to co-operate effectually in 

 the execution of many works, calculated for the general be- 

 nefit of the community, unless some such means of commu- 

 nication existed. There is no evidence that sound is the 

 medium of this intercourse; for none, audible to us at least, 

 was ever known to be emitted by these insects. Their mode 

 of conversing together appears to be simply by touching one 

 another in different ways with the antennae. Huber's ob- 

 servations on this subject are exceedingly curious.* He re- 

 marks that the signal denoting the apprehension of danger, 

 is made by the ant striking its head against the corselet of 



* See his "Recherches sur les moeursdes fourmis indigenes." 



