80 INTERNAL ORGANS. 



for the bending the ears forward, and moving them 

 in walking, seem to be for the purpose of listening. 



I think that the numerous joints in the foot permit- 

 ting it to bend round objects, and more particularly 

 the soft-cushioned feet of some beetles and flies, and 

 also the feelers on the under jaws, and the under lip, 

 may be more plausibly considered the organs of touch ; 

 \vhile the hairs, and long bristles, and spines, of some 

 caterpillars, are evidently connected with the sense of 

 touch. 



There can be no doubt that insects possess the 

 sense of Taste, several species being most delicately 

 fastidious respecting their food ; rejecting some leaves 

 and choosing others, when no difference is percep- 

 tible to us. It is not well ascertained in what part of 

 an insect's mouth the organs of taste are situated, 

 though I think it more plausible to consider the 

 tongue as such than the feelers, or the haus, as has 

 been done by some authors. 



Most insects possess an exquisite sense of Smell, 

 but as they do not breathe through nostrils and do not 

 possess them, we are naturally led to suppose the 

 organ of smell to be in the spiracles, most probably 

 in the pair of spiracles on the fore corselet, which are, 

 it may be recollected, of different structure from the 

 other spiracles ; or, if M. Huber be correct, in a small 

 spiracle at the root of the tongue. Dumeril appears 

 to think that the whole lining of the air-pipes through- 

 out the body is the organ of smell evidently a gra- 

 tuitous assumption highly improbable. 



For the brief reasons assigned under touch, and 

 for others deduced from dissection and experiment, 

 I have ventured to call the Ears, two horn-like organs, 

 always situated near the eyes, to which various incon- 

 gruous functions have been assigned. As I have little 

 doubt these organs will one day be proved to be ears, 

 I think it will direct attention more decidedly to them 

 by at once terming them ears, than by leaving them 



