AUDITORY HAIRS ON ANTENN.E OF GNAT. 115 



possible, we are met by great difficulties. The evidence 

 is, I think, conclusive that the antennae are olfactory 

 as well as tactile organs, and I believe that they serve 

 also as organs of hearing. There are, moreover, as 

 shown in the last chapter, various remarkable structures 

 in the antennae, and I have given reasons for thinking 

 some of them to be the seat of the sense of smell. 

 Which, if any, of the remainder convey the sense of 

 sound, it is not easy to determine. I have suggested 

 that Hicks's bottles (Fig. 43) may act as microscopic 

 stethoscopes ; * but they occur, so far as we at present 

 know, only in ants and certain bees. 



Fig. V3.— Head of gnat. 



That some of the antennal hairs are auditory can,' 

 I think, no longer be doubted. Johnson, whose figure 

 I give (Fig. 73), suggestedf in 1855 that the hairs on 

 the antennae of gnats serve for hearing. Mayer also,t 



* I am glad to see that Leydig, who, however, does not appear to have 

 read either Hicks's paper or mine, also regards these as chordotonal 

 organs (Zool. Anz., 1886). 



t Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 1855. 



X American Journal of Science ani Arts, 1874. 



