An Uitkitowii Sense 343 



inquire. Everything tells us that the organs 

 of search are the antennae. With their tips, 

 bent like a bow and quivering with a continual 

 vibration, the insect tests the ground, giving a 

 number of little taps. When some crack shows, 

 the restless threads enter and sound it ; when 

 some grass-tuft spreads its tangled root-stock 

 along the ground, the quivering of the antennae 

 redoubles as they grope among its knots and 

 angles. Their tips are applied for an instant 

 to the spot explored, moulding themselves, so 

 to speak, upon it. They suggest two tactile 

 filaments, two long fingers of incomparable 

 mobility, which gather information by feeling. 

 But the sense of touch can play no part in re- 

 vealing what is underground : the thing to be 

 felt is the Grey Worm ; and the worm is lying 

 snug in its burrow, at a depth of some inches 

 below the surface. 



We thereupon turn our thoughts to the 

 faculty of scent. Insects, there is no denying, 

 possess the sense of smell, often very highly de- 

 veloped. The Necrophori,^ the Silphae,^ the 

 Histers,^ the Dermestes * hasten from every 

 side to the spot where lies a little corpse of which 



* Burying-beetles. — Translator'' s Note. 

 - Carrion-beetles. — Translatoi'^ s Note. 

 •^ Mimic-beetles. — Translator'' s Note. 



* Bacon-beetles. — Translator\'; Note 



