All Unknown Sense 347 



It is less than faint, it is non-existent. The 

 Girey Worm is nocturnal in its habits. By day 

 it skulks in its lair and does not stir. It does 

 not nibble either ; at least, the Grey Worms 

 which I unearthed upon the Wasp's indications 

 were nibbling nothing, for the very simple 

 reason that they had nothing to nibble. They 

 were completely motionless and therefore silent 

 in a layer of earth devoid of roots. The sense 

 of hearing must be rejected with that of smell. 



The question recurs, more abstruse than ever. 

 How does the Ammophila go to work to recog- 

 nize the spot beneath which the Grey Worm 

 lies ? The antennae are, beyond a doubt, the 

 organs that guide her. They do not, in this 

 case, act as olfactory instruments, unless we 

 admit that their dry and tough surface, which 

 has none of the delicate structure required for 

 the ordinary sense of smell, is nevertheless 

 capable of perceiving scents that are non- 

 existent to us. This would be equivalent to 

 admitting that coarse tools tend to perfection 

 of work. Nor do they act as instruments of 

 hearing, for there is no sound to be discerned. 

 What then is their function ? I do not know 

 and I despair of ever knowing. 



Inclined as we are — and it could not well 

 be otherwise — to judge all things by our stan- 

 dard, the only one in any way known to us, we 



