SENSES OF INSECTS. 24-7 



neral use of the antennae of insects, I shall endeavour to 

 discover whether jhere is any part in the higher animals 

 to which they may be deemed to exhibit any analogy. 

 And here I must refer you to what I have said on a for- 

 mer occasion upon the present subject; where I made it 

 evident, J hope, that the great bulk of the parts and or- 

 gans of insects, in this particular differing from the ma- 

 jority of Invertebrates, are, some in one respect, some 

 in another, and some in many, really analogous to those 

 of the higher animals 3 ; and that a great many of them, 

 though varying in their structure, have the same func- 

 tions. Thus the analogues of the eyes of Vertebrates 

 are for seeing; of the jaws for masticating ; of the lips 

 for dosing the mouth ; of the legs for walking, &c. We 

 have seen also very recently, that a similar analogy, more 

 or less strongly marked, holds also in their internal or- 

 gans 5 ; so that it may be safely affirmed, that if all the 

 invertebrate insects, though gifted with numerous pecu- 

 liarities, present the most striking picture of those ani- 

 mals that have an internal skeleton, and more particu- 

 larly of the Mammalia, we may assume it as a proba- 

 bility, the above circumstances being allowed their due 

 weight, that where facts do not prove the contrary, the 

 function of analogous organs is more or less synonymous, 

 though perhaps the structure and modus operandi may 

 be different. 



In the letter lately referred to, I observed that the an- 

 tennae of insects are analogous to ears in Vertebrates c . 

 Their number corresponds ; they also stand out from the 



a VOL. III. p. 43. b See above, p. 1. 



c VOL. III. p. 46. 



