Sense of Searing and Smelling. 47 



eyes of all insects. They are sometimes short, as in the house 

 fly, and sometimes very long, as in the grasshoppers. They 

 are either straight, curved, or elbowed. In form they are very 

 various, as thread-like, tapering, toothed, knobbed, fringed, 

 feathered, etc. It is known that a nerve passes into the an- 

 tennse, but their exact function is little understood. That 

 they serve as most delicate touch organs no apiarist, can doubt. 

 That they serve as organs of smell or hearing is not proved. 

 That insects are conscious of sounds I think no observing per- 

 son can doubt. It is proved by the call of the katy-did, the 

 cicada, and the cricket. No apiarist has failed to notice the 

 effect of various sounds made by the bees upon their comrades 

 of the hive, and how contagious the sharp note of anger, the 

 low hum of fear, and the pleasant tone of a new swarm as they 

 commence to enter tbeir new home. Now, whether insects 

 take note of these vibrations, as we recognize pitch, or whether 

 they just distinguish the tremor, I think no one knows. There 

 is some reason to believe that their delicate touch organs may 

 enable them to discriminate between vibrations, even more 

 acutely than can we by use of our ears. A slight jar will 

 quickly awaken a colony of hybrids, while a loud noise will 

 pass unnoticed. If insects can appreciate with great delicacy 

 the different vibratory conditions of the air by an excessive de- 

 velopment of the sense of touch, then undoubtedly the an- 

 tennae may be great aids. Dr. Clemens thought that insects 

 could only detect atmospheric vibrations. So, too, thought 

 Linnseus and Bonnet. Siebold thinks, as the antennse receive 

 but one nerve, and are plainly touch organs, they can not be 

 organs of hearing. Kirby has noticed that some moths turn 

 their antennse towards the direction from which noise proceeds, 

 and thus argues that antennse are organs of hearing. Grote, 

 for a similar reason, thinks that the densely feathered antennse 

 of the males of various night moths, serve for both smell and 

 hearing; Prof. A. M. Mayer and Mr. C. Johnson (see Amer- 

 ican Naturalist, vol. 8, p. 574) have by various ingenious ex- 

 periments proved conclusively that titie delicate, beautifully 

 feathered antennse of the male mosquito are organs of hearing; 

 Sir John Lubbock, in that interesting work, "Ants, Bees, 

 and Wasps," says he has never succeeded in satisfying himself 

 that ants, bees, or wasps heard any of the sounds with which 

 he tried them. He refers to certain structures on the antennae 



