3o4 Pn>t. .\. .M . M;i\'Oi'.s Exprrimonts on ///<• supposed 



of the same size on the internal surface of the hgs in question ; 

 but it is scareely observabh* in A. sy/veslris, A. domestica, and 

 A. campestris.y 



Othei- naturalists have |)laee(l the auditory apparatus of diur- 

 nal Lepidoptera in their club-sha[)ed ant(Min;e, of bees at the 

 root of their maxillre, of Meloloutha in their antennal plates, of 

 Locusta viridissimn in the nieuibranes which unite the antenna 

 with the head. 



I think that Siebold assumes tot) much when he stati-s that 

 the existence of a tympanic membrane is the only test of the 

 existence of an auditory apparatus. It is true that such a test 

 would apply to the non-aquatic vertebrates; but their homolo- 

 gies do not extend to the articulates ; and besides, any physi- 

 cist can not only conceive of, but can actually construct other 

 receptors of aerial vibrations, as I will soon show by conclusive 

 experiments. Neither can I agree with him in su])posing that 

 the antennie are only tactile organs ; for very often their posi- 

 tion and limited motion would exclude them from this function*; 

 and moreover it has never been proved that the antenna;, which 

 differ so much in their forms in diflPerent insects, arc always tac- 

 tile organs. They may be used as such by some insects; in 

 others they may be organs of audition ; while in other insects 

 they uiay, as Newport and Gonreau surmise, have both func- 

 tions; for even granting that Miiller'slaw of the specific energy 

 of the senses extends to the insects, yet the anatomy of their 

 nervous system is not sufficiently known to prevent the supposi- 

 tion that there may be two distinct sets of nerve-fibres in the 

 antennae or in connexion with their bases, so that the antennne 

 may serve both as tactile and as auditory organs — ^just as the 

 hand, which receives at the same time the impression of the 

 character of the surface of a body and of its temperature — or like 

 the tongue, which at the same time distinguishes the surface, 

 the form, the temperature, and the taste of a body. Finally, I 

 take objection to this statement : — " Newport and Goureau think 

 that the antennae serve both as tactde and as auditory organs. But 

 this view is inadmissible, as Erichson has already stated, except 

 in the sense that the antenna?, like all solid bodies, may conduct 

 sonorous vibrations of the air." Here evidently Siebold had 

 not in his mind the physical relations which exist between two 

 bodies which give exactly the same number of vibrations ; for it 

 is well known that when one of them vibrates, the other will be 

 set into vibration by the inipacts sent to it through the iuterve- 



* Incleeil they are often hi<rlily fleveloped in tliemselves while accompa- 

 nied by /^a//^', wliicli are pioperlv |)lacc(l, aiiequiiteiy organized, and en- 

 dowed with a ranjje of motion suilahle to an organ intended for purposes 

 of touch. 



