MANUAL or THE APIARY. 58 



lining membranes abounding with, nerve filaments, are the 

 great odor sentinels ? This view was maintained by both 

 Lehman and Cuvier, and explains this delicate perception of 

 scents, as the breathing mouths are large and numerous, and 

 most so in insects like bees and moths, which are most sensi- 

 tiye to odors. How quickly the bees notice the scent of a 

 strange bee or queen, or the peculiar odor of the venom. I 

 have known a bee to sting a glove, and in a trice the glove 

 would be as a pin-cushion, with stings in lieu of pins. Some- 

 times the bees will dart for many feet, guided by this odor. 

 Tet the odor is very pungent, as I have frequently smelt the 

 poison before I felt the sting. I have tried the experi- 

 ments of Huber and Lubbock, and know that such insects as 

 bees and ants will take no note of food after the loss of their 

 antennae. But we must remember that this is a capital ope- 

 ration. With loss of antennae, insects lose control of their 

 motions, and in many ways show great disturbance. Is it not 

 probable then that removing the antennae destroys the desire 

 for food, as does amputation with ourselves ? Kirby believes 

 with Huber, that there is a scent organ. Huber's experi- 

 ments on which he based this opinion are, as usual, very in- 

 teresting. He presented a coarse hair dipped in oil of tur- 

 pentine — a substance very repugnant to bees — to various parts 

 of a bee engrossed in sipping honey. The bee made no ob- 

 jection, even though it touched the ligula, until it approached 

 the mouth above the mentum, when she became much dis- 

 turbed. He also filled a bee's mouth with paste, which soon har- 

 dened, after which the bee paid no heed to honey placed near 

 it. This was not so conclusive, as the bee may have been so 

 disturbed as to lose its appetite. I have experimented a good 

 deal, and am inclined to the following opinion : The antennae 

 are very delicate* touch-organs or feelers, and are so important 

 in their function and connection that removal produces a se- 

 vere shock, but further we know but little about their func- 

 tion, if they have other, and from the very nature of the prob- 

 lem we will find it very difficult of solution. 



The eyes are of two kinds, the compound, which are al- 

 ways present in mature insects, and the ocelli or simple eyes, 

 which may or may not be present. When present there are 

 usually three, which if we join by lines, we will describe a 



