262 PHYSIOLOGY. 



he assures us that it renders the bees quite tame 

 and tractable. 



Most physiologists, resting upon the evidence 

 of analogy, agree in attributing five senses to 

 insects : (DR. VIKEY, as will be seen further "on, 

 ascribes to them seven senses :) though there is a 

 difference of opinion as to the organs by which 

 those senses are conveyed. The antennte. for in- 

 stance, have been regarded by some as the organs 

 of smell, by others as the organs of touch, and by a 

 third class as the organs of hearing. With the sub- 

 stitution of taste forbearing, the same opinions have 

 been maintained respecting the palpi ; nor can the 

 question even now be considered as settled. The 

 prevailing opinion seems to be, that the antennae 

 are explorers or tactors, but that they are also 

 applied to other uses ; the effects produced by 

 their excision indicate that they are organs of the 

 highest importance. Vide Senses of Bees. 



MESSRS. KIRBY and SPENCE notice the analogy 

 borne by antennae to the ears of vertebrate animals, 

 such as their corresponding in number and stand- 

 ing out from the head. No ether organ has been 

 found which can be supposed to represent the 

 ear*. And what I have said in another place, of 

 their constituting a sixth sense, has received some 

 countenance from the observations of those natu- 



* MARCEL DE SERRES thinks he has discovered an organ 

 of hearing in most insects, but does not state its situation. 



