264 PHYSIOLOGY. 



transmitters of sound; the sense which they supply 

 may, in these little creatures, be so very fine, as 

 to enable them to hear the bursting of an anther, 

 or the exudation of nectar. The continual motion 

 of the antennae of insects from side to side, when 

 they walk, conveys the idea that it is by their 

 means that they inform themselves of what is 

 going on in their immediate vicinity. The impor- 

 tance of the antennae may be inferred from their 

 very complicated structure. MR. KIRBY has 

 observed, that in one species of Apis which he 

 examined, under a powerful magnifier, the ten 

 last joints of the antennae appeared to be composed 

 of innumerable hexagons, and from this similarity 

 in their structure to the eyes (Vide Senses of 

 Bees) he thought that they might serve a some- 

 what analogous purpose. 



What I have said with respect to the Senses of 

 Bees, in another place, will I think make it evident 

 that these insects possess an organ of smell, but 

 vith respect to its situation naturalists differ. 

 BASTER, LEHMANN, and CUVIER, consider the 

 spiracles as the organs of smell, as well as of 

 respiration : this opinion is founded upon the 

 notion that, without the inspiration of air, there 

 can be no smell ; and that as insects are smaller 

 than the food they live upon, it would be of no 

 consequence to them where this sense was situated. 

 KIRBY and SPENCE, on the contrary, suppose that 



