42 EXPERIMENTS WITH SILPHA. 



be moved about on either side, but with nothing 

 remarkable in their motions, while the head of the 

 insect was a little elevated and carried forwards, as if it 

 perceived the flesh, and the palpi were in rapid vibra- 

 tory motion. It soon approached very near to the food, 

 and at length touched it three or four times with the 

 antennae, but each time suddenly withdrew them as if 

 they had fallen unexpectedly on something obnoxious, 

 the palpi during the wdiole time continuing their motion. 

 The insect at length reached the food, and, after having 

 touched it once or twice with the extremities of the 

 palpi, their motion ceased, and it commenced feeding, 

 while the antennae were occasionally in motion as 

 before." It would certainly seem, therefore, that in 

 these insects, at any rate, the sense of smell resides 

 principally in the palpi. 



Newport made certain other experiments on the 

 powers of hearing of insects, which I shall mention in 

 the next chapter, and he concludes, "These facts, 

 connected, wdth the previous experiments, have con- 

 vinced me that the antennae in all insects are the 

 auditory organs, whatever may be their particular 

 structure, and that, however this is varied, it is appro- 

 priated to the perception and transmission of sound." 



Newport was an excellent observer and profound 

 entomologist, and I see no reason to doubt the correct- 

 ness of his observations ; nor, indeed, of his inferences, 

 so long as we confine them to the species on which the 

 observations were made. They may prove that some 

 insects possess no sense of smell, or that, at any rate, 

 it does not reside in the antennae. On the other 

 hand, they cannot disprove the positive results obtained 

 by other observers, that in other species the opposite is 



