84 OF THE SENSES OF 



their points insinuated very near their mouth. But 

 the odour of these fluids, which would have occasioned 

 a sudden shock to bees in their natural state, had no 

 sensible effect on them. On the contrary, several 

 mounted on the impregnated pencils, and traversed 

 them with impunity : therefore, we held that their 

 sense of smelling was obstructed by the paste put 

 into their mouths."* 



Humboldt is of opinion, that different parts of the 

 body, in the various orders of insects, are adapted to 

 the purpose of conveying to their sensorium the 

 odours of substances. 



Kirby and Spence, following up the experiments 

 of Huber, say that the olfactory sensation is conveyed 

 by " the extremity of the nose, between it and the 

 upper lip, or under those parts ;" and that it is 

 analogous to this sense in mammiferous animals ; and 

 conceive that no one can look on an insect without 

 coming to this conclusion, f But as we are not 

 furnished with any experiments by which we are 

 made acquainted that insects breathe at all through 

 their head, we are at a loss how to account for the 

 conviction of these authors. And being still so 

 imperfectly acquainted with this part of the insect 

 economy, we must leave it to be decided by future 

 investigations. If, however, the conclusions of Dr 



* HUBER on Sees. Edinburgh Translation, 1821, p. 

 162164. 



f Km BY and SPENCE, Introduction to Entomology, iv. 

 p. 256. 



