1905.] ON THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ANTENNAE IN INSECTS. 85 



with dogs, the small native dogs enteiing their holes and diiving 

 them out. Often the dogs themselves catch and kill the Porcu- 

 pine, seizing it by the throat, where there are no quills. If it 

 escapes the dogs, it is driven by men, with much hallooing, to a 

 place where a net is stretched, into which it runs and is. caught. 

 Often several are caught at once in this way. 



The Pangolins {Manis). 



The one or two small species of Maiiis are called " ka," and 

 the large one, which I have heard of but not seen, and suppose 

 to be Manis gigantea, is called " avi." 



They all burrow in the earth. The " ka " must be mainly 

 nocturnal. One brought to me was said to have been caught 

 walking on the ground in the forest at early morning. Another 

 wa,s found in the daytime on top of one of the ants' nests, like 

 huge hornets' nests, that are found adhering to the trunks of 

 trees. Those I have received as specimens have generally been 

 brought alive and curled up tightly. It takes much strength 

 to unroll them, and they are hard to kill. When forcibly un- 

 rolled they eject in small quantities a very pungent yellow liquid ; 

 some of this that fell on a porch at the Benito mission-station 

 permanently discoloured the paint. 



4. A Conlribution to the Study o£ the Function of the 

 Antennse in lusects. By Macleou Yearsley, F.R.C.S., 

 F.Z.S. 



[Received January 20, 1905.] 



The true function of the antennse of insects has for many years 

 been a disputed point. As early as 1838 LefebAn-e (1) disagreed 

 with Oken, who regarded them as auditory organs, and attributed 

 to them the olfactory sense. In 1847 Erichson (2), by reason of 

 his anatomical studies of the antennae, adhered to this view. 

 The subject was also investigated by Leydig (3) in 1855, who 

 traced the antennal nerve to the organs discovered by Erichson. 

 He also (4) described what he considered to be auditory end- 

 oi'gans. Lowne (5) pointed out that one anatomical fact (first 

 noted by Diette (6) in 1876), viz., the similarity of structure 

 between the antennal ganglion and the olfactory bulb of 

 vertebrates was in itself a guide to the function of the antennse ; 

 and Perris (7) made systematic investigations by experiments on 

 living insects and established their olfactory function. It would, 

 however, be fruitless to attempt to mention all who have ex- 

 pressed opinions — supported by more or less evidence — upon the 

 subject. Indeed, Kraepelin gives references to more than 100 

 papers dealing with the question between 1730 and 1883. 

 Certain observations have been made by Kirby (8), Meyer, 

 Lehmann (9), Leydig, Gruber, Hurst (10), Hammond, and others 



