348 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTIONS. 



the alarm is soon spread among all the inhabitants 

 of the hive. All rush forwards with tumultuous 

 precipitation, eagerly seeking their lost queen ; but 

 after continuing the search for some hours, and 

 finding it to be fruitless, they appear resigned to 

 their misfortune ; the noisy tumult subsides, and 

 the bees quietly resume their labours. 



A bee, deprived of its antennae, immediately 

 becomes dull and listless ; it desists ^from its usual 

 labours, remains at the bottom of the hive, seems 

 attracted only by the light, and takes the first 

 opportunity of quitting the hive, never more to 

 return. A queen bee, thus mutilated, ran about, 

 without apparent object, as if in a state of delirium, 

 and was incapable of directing her trunk with pre- 

 cision to the food which was offered to her. Latreille 

 relates that, having deprived some labouring ants 

 of their antennae, he replaced them near the nest ; 

 but they wandered in all directions, as if bewildered, 

 and unconscious of what they were doing. Some 

 of their companions were seen to notice their dis- 

 tress, and approaching them with apparent com- 

 passion, applied their tongues to the wounds of the 

 sufferers, and anointed them with their saliva. This 

 trait of sensibility was repeatedly witnessed by 

 Latreille, while watching their movements with a 

 magnifying glass. 



The Arachnida, from the mobility of their limbs, 

 and the thinness of their cutaneous investment, 

 have a very delicate sense of touch. Among the 

 Mollusca, it is only the higher orders of Cephalo- 

 poda that enjoy this sense in any considerable 

 degree ; and they are enabled to exercise it by 

 means of their long and flexible tentacula. Many 



