1582 Insects. 



Trusting that Mr. Wollaston, if he reads these remarks, will receive 

 them with the same good humour as they have been written in, I take 

 my leave of the subject, just observing that had I foreseen that the 

 few remarks which I made on Mr. Dawson's note (Zool. 1240), with a 

 view to prevent what I believed an erroneous impression, would have 

 resulted in such a lengthy discussion, they never would have appeared 

 in the ' Zoologist.' 



William Turner, M.A. 



Uppingham, Dec. 10, 1846. 



Thoughts on the Disputed Sensibility of Insects. 

 By H. N. Turner, Jun., Esq. 



Before adding to the various observations which have appeared in 

 the ' Zoologist ' on insect sensibility, I must observe that I wish to do 

 so on perfectly independent grounds ; in fact, I forwarded my first 

 communication towards the latter end of last month, and after reading 

 Mr. Wollaston's able article, in answer to the Rev. Wm. Turner, imme- 

 diately felt tempted to substitute a more explicit statement of my 

 hitherto unpublished ideas ; but as I feared lest I should be supposed 

 desirous of interfering with the controversy between the above-named 

 gentlemen, with neither of whom have I the honour of acquaintance, 

 it is not without considerable hesitation that I have done so. 



Let us first of all endeavour, in our reflections on this extremely 

 difficult subject, to divest ourselves of all ideas founded solely on 

 those natural directions of our thoughts, which result only from our 

 bodily and habitual sensations : it is also necessary that we banish 

 from our minds the idea, that certain bodily indications, which fre- 

 quently accompany a sense of pain, cannot proceed from any other 

 source. Having done so, we find that we have no more reason for 

 supposing that insects feel, than we have for receiving any of such 

 prevailing popular notions as are held solely on account of their early 

 and unknown origin. We have, therefore, only for our guide, in the 

 attempted solution of the problem in question, the accurate observa- 

 tion of facts, and whatever clew physiological principles as yet give 

 us to the interpretation of their meaning. Sensation, as anatomical 

 investigation has shown, depends on the presence and disposition of 

 a soft substance termed neurine, whose chemical constitution ap- 

 proaches in some degree to that of fat, but which plays in the animal 



