xvin. THE HONEY BEE. 265 



utmost harmony. On carpenter-ants eau de Cologne had 

 no pacific influence. 



From smell we pass to hearing. We know more about 

 this sense in certain other insects than we do in the bee. 

 And here again observation points to the antenna as the 

 probable seat of the organ of hearing. To Kirby we owe 

 the following observation on a little moth : " I made," he 

 says, " a quiet, not loud, but distinct noise ; the antenna 

 nearest to me immediately moved towards me. I repeated 

 the noise at least a dozen times, and it was followed every 

 time by the same motion of that organ, till at length the 

 insect, being alarmed, became more agitated and violent 

 in its motions." Hicks wrote, in 1859, " Whoever has 

 observed a tranquilly proceeding Capricorn beetle which 

 is suddenly surprised by a loud sound, will have seen how 

 immovably outward it spreads its antennae, and holds 

 them porrect, as it were, with great attention, as long as 

 it listens." The same observer described certain highly 

 specialized organs in the antennae of the hymenoptera 

 (ants, bees, and wasps), which he thus describes : " They 

 consist," he says, " of a small pit leading into a delicate 

 tube, which, bending towards the base, dilates into an 

 elongated sac having its end inverted." Of these re- 

 markable organs, Sir John Lubbock says there are in the 

 ant about twelve in the terminal segment, and he has 

 suggested that they may serve as microscopic stetho- 

 scopes. 



Mayer, experimenting with the feathered antenna of 

 the male mosquito, found that some of the hairs were 

 thrown into vigorous vibration when a note with 512 

 vibrations per second was sounded. And Sir John 

 Lubbock, who quotes this observation, adds, " It is 

 interesting that the hum of the female gnat corresponds 

 nearly to this note, and would consequently set the hairs 



