114 SIE JOHN LUBBOCK OS BEES AND WASPS. 



attends to what is going forward in tlie neighbourhood of one of 

 their nests, will be pleased to observe the readiness with which 

 they seem disposed to assist each other in difficulties. When a 

 burthen is too heavy for one, another will soon come to ease it of 

 part of the weight ; and if one is threatened with an attack, all 

 hasten to the spot to join in repelling it " *. 



These statements imply, on the part of bees, wasps, and ants, 

 a great amount of intelligence. As I have already observed, how- 

 ever, the observations recorded do not seem to me in all cases to 

 bear out the inferences that have been drawn from them. More- 

 over, when the conclusions are so important, we cannot be too 

 sure of the facts ; and however eminent, therefore, the authority 

 may be, it is most desirable that the observations should be 

 repeated. 



Another question connected with these insects on which I was 

 anxious to make some experiments was the use of the antennae. 

 That they are the means of communication there can be no doubt; 

 but it is also the general opinion that they are, in addition, organs 

 of sense. Whether, however, their functions are olfactory, or 

 whether they serve as ears, is still a point on which entomolo- 

 gists are divided. 



Our great entomologist Newport, in a paper specially devoted 

 to the subject, says : — 



" These facts, connected with the previous experiments, have 

 convinced me that the antennae in all insects are the auditory 

 organs, whatever may be their peculiar structure — and that, how- 

 ever this is varied, it is appropriated to the perception and trans- 

 mission of sound." 



Dr. Ormerod also, who was so careful an observer of our 

 British wasps, was of opinion that " the proper function of the 

 antennae seems to be that of an instrument of communication in 

 the social tribes, and of an organ of heariog in insects gene- 

 rally "J. 



" The majority of modern physiologists and entomologists agree 

 in explaining the antennae as organs of hearing, as we have already 

 remarked. Kirby and Spence's representation (whose names 

 were inadvertently omitted to be mentioned there as the authori- 

 ties for our opinions) conveys so much conviction that we may 



* Vol. ii. p. 65. 



t Newport, " On the Antenna of Insects.' Trans. Ent. Soc. vol. ii. p. 245. 



X Natural History of Wasps, p. 73. 



