OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. Ill 



On the antennae. 



being so. He has never considered the antennae 

 as eithej offensive or defensive, but has observed 

 them to be endowed with an exquisite sense of 

 feeling; that the animal appeared to be in agony 

 when its antennae were pinched, and that it takes- 

 care to avoid the touching any hard substance 

 with them roughly. " This tenderness in the 

 organ of hearing," says he, <f is common to all 

 animals; and insects seem to be particularly ten- 

 der in these parts, by quickly withdrawing them 

 from the touch." That author further observes, 

 that the antennae of all insects are composed of 

 joints varying in size, form, and number. Those 

 who are chiefly confined to live under water, 

 have their antennae shorter than those who live 

 on land; some, who roam at large in the air, 

 have them long and slender. They are all hol- 

 low, and are rendered flexible by the joints. This 

 hollowness, in our author's opinion, is to receive 

 the sound communicated to the extremities of 

 the antennae by the repercussion of the air affect- 

 ed by any noise, and convey it, by means of the 

 joints, from one to another, till it arrives in that 

 lessened degree of tone best suited to the timid 

 nature of the animal. In this circumstance there 

 may be many variations in point of perfection in 

 those organs ; the strength, utility, and degree of 

 power in receiving sound, being proportioned to 

 the necessities of the animals different in their 

 nature and requisites. In most animals the en- 

 jtrance to the auricular organ is patulons ; but in 



