LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. 81 



Mr Kirby, however, mentions one observation he 

 made in his description of the Long-horned Bee 

 (JSucera.) " A singular circumstance distinguishes 

 their antennae, which, to the best of my knowledge, 

 has never been before noticed, and which may 

 possibly lead to the discovery of the use of these 

 organs. Placed under a powerful magnifier, the last 

 ten joints appear to be composed of innumerable 

 hexagons, similar to those of which the eyes of insects 

 consist." Mr Rennie, in alluding to this fact, says, 

 " If we reason from analogy, this remarkable circum- 

 stance will lead us to conjecture, that the sense, of 

 which this part so essential to insects is the organ, 

 may bear some relation to that conveyed by the eyes. 

 As they are furnished with no instrument for pre- 

 serving and communicating the impressions of sound 

 similar to the ear, that deficiency may be supplied 

 by extraordinary means of vision. That the stemmata 

 are of this description seems very probable ; and 

 the antennae may, in some degree, answer a similar 

 purpose : the circumstance just mentioned furnishes 

 some presumption that they do this, at least, in the 

 case of the males ; else why do they exhibit that 

 peculiar structure which distinguishes the real 

 eyes?"* 



Huber's experiments seem to go far to establish 

 a different theory. He says, " Let us now inquire 

 into the state or organ of this sense, whose existence 

 has been so well established. 



* Insect Miscellany, p. 63. 



