SENSES OF INSECTS. 2.59 



But though some of these arguments appear weighty, 

 there are others, I think, that will more than counterba- 

 lance them, making it probable that the seat of this sense 

 is in the head, either in its ordinary station at the extre- 

 mity of what I call the nose, between it and the upper-lip, 

 or under those parts. That the nose corresponds with 

 the so-named part in Mammalia, both from its situation 

 and often from its form, must be evident to every one 

 who looks at an insect a ; and when we further consider 

 the connexion that obtains between the senses of smell and 

 taste, how necessary it is that the seat of the one should 

 be near that of the other, and that it really is so in all 

 animals in which we certainly know its organ b ; we shall 

 feel convinced that the argument from analogy is wholly 

 in favour of the nose, and may thence consider it as pro- 

 bable that the sense in question does reside there. Leh- 

 mann seems to be of opinion, because an insect is usually 

 smaller than what it feeds upon, that it makes no differ- 

 ence whether it smells with its head or with its tail : but 

 one would think that &jlying insect would be more rea- 

 dily directed to its object by smelling with the anterior 

 part of the body than with the posterior ; and that a feed- 

 ing one would also find it more convenient in selecting its 

 food. As to the argument, that smell must be the neces- 

 sary concomitant of the respiratory openings, and that 

 there can be no smell where the air is not inspired, 

 this seems asserting more than our knowledge of these 

 animals will warrant : for the organs of the other senses, 

 though the senses themselves seem analogous, are so 

 different in their structure, and often in the mode in 



a VOL. III. p. 475. ' N. Diet. tfHist. Nat. xxiii. 210 



s 2 



