36 HUMBLE CKEATURES. 



count of their anatomical structure ; but Mr. Newport, 

 a very careful observer, has also adduced, as an in- 

 stance where the feelers exhibit a sensibility to sound, 

 the fact of a beetle, which retracts its antennse on a 

 sudden noise, and falling down counterfeits death. 

 On the other hand, we have various circumstances in 

 evidence of their tactile and olfactory functions j 

 amongst these may be quoted the Ichneumon-fly 

 (one of the Class Hymenoptera, to which the Bee 

 belongs), which lays its eggs by means of a sharp 

 ovipositor in the larvae of various insects ; on the 

 bodies of these, the larvae of the Ichneumon subsist as 

 soon as they are hatched. If we observe this insect 

 seeking for larvse or caterpillars that inhabit wood, 

 old posts, &c., we shall notice that it pushes its an- 

 tennae before it into every irregularity of surface until 

 it has met with a caterpillar, which it then pierces 

 with its ovipositor, and injects one or more eggs. 

 Other insects employ the antennae for the same pur- 

 pose ; and it has been proved beyond a doubt that the 

 sense of smell guides them in depositing their eggs ; 

 for some insects, whose larvae derive their nourish- 

 ment from decaying meat, have been known to com- 

 mit the singular mistake of placing them upon plants 

 that possess a similar odour, but were totally unsuit- 

 able as food for the larvae, in consequence of which they 

 died of hunger almost as soon as they were hatched. 

 The Bee, again, employs its antennae, or organs of 

 smell, in searching for honey: the Ants use these 

 organs to point out to each other the locality in which 



