THE HEAD OF THE BEE AND ITS APPENDAGES. 33 



small joints in the worker and queen and of 12 in the drone. The 

 male antenna thus consists of 13 joints in all, while that of the female 

 has but 12. The first joint of the flagellum is freely articulated to 

 the scape, but the others do not have much play upon one another, 

 though they give flexibility to the flagellum as a whole. 



Each antenna is a hollow tube containing the large antennal nerve, 

 minute extensions of the tracheal system, and the small muscles which 

 move the segments upon one another. 



Popularly the antennae of insects are known as the " feelers," be- 

 cause they are constantly moved about in all directions with a nervous 

 kind of motion as if the creature were feeling its way along by means 

 of them. In fact " feelers " is a better name for these appendages 

 than the scientific term, for there can be no doubt that the sense of 

 touch is very highly developed in them and that by means of them 

 insects acquire a great deal of information concerning their surround- 

 ings and their companions. Moreover, a large mass of evidence 

 derived from experiments shows unquestionably that the organs of 

 smell also are located upon the antennse in a great many if not all 

 insects, while some investigators believe that in some species they 

 carry in addition the organs of hearing. 



The study of the senses of insects is a most elusive subject, and 

 becomes more so the more we ponder on the results of experiments. 

 In the first place, it is manifestly impossible for us to acquire any 

 real knowledge of an insect's sensations, for what is to us an odor, 

 11 taste, a color, or a sound may be something quite different to such a 

 differently organized creature. We can, however, by experiments 

 determine that some things which give us the sensation of an odor 

 are perceived also by insects when placed near them. Also it can be 

 shown that some of them distinguish substances of different taste in 

 their food, and likewise that they perceive movement and distinguish 

 the colors and in a vague way the outlines of objects. Furthermore, 

 it is known that some of their perceptions are more delicate than ours, 

 and that some insects at least see color where we see none. They may 

 even possess senses of which we have no conception. 



Hence, while it can be positively stated that insects perceive differ- 

 ences of touch, taste, smell, sound, and light, and act accordingly, we 

 can not say what the sensations they acquire are like. In fact we 

 do not know that they have conscious sensations at all. What looks 

 like an action due to intelligent perception may be purely a reflex one, 

 unaccompanied by any sensation. This of course involves the ques- 

 tion as to whether such creatures or insects are possessed of conscious- 

 ness or not — a question which can not be answered one way or the 

 other. 



Understanding, then, that our knowledge of insect senses amounts 

 only to this, that what gives us the sensation of light, sound, taste, 

 22181— No. 18—10 3 



