OF INSECTS IN GENERAL 
3 53 
they are in general fnort ; while fuch as roam at large 
through the air have them long and {lender, as the pha- 
lenas ichneumons, and others. They are all hollow with- 
in, and rendered flexible by the joints, which are very 
viiible in thole of the crab ; which are the bell examples, 
becaufe the large!! belonging to this clafs of beings. 
This hollownefs, it is fuppofed, is intended to receive the 
found communicated to the extremities of the antennae, 
by the repercuflion of the air ; and to convey it, by 
means of the joints, from one piece to another, till it 
arrives at the brain, in that leffened degree of tone which 
is fuited to the nature of the particular animal*. Such 
is the apparatus deftined for the hearing of infeds ; a 
fenfe which they probably enjoy in various degrees of 
perfection ; but in none of them does it feem fo acute as 
in the higher ranks of animated beings. 
But, befides the fenfe of hearing, it feems highly pro- 
bable that infeds poffefs alfo that of fmell. As many of 
them live on bodies in a ftate of putrefadion, around 
which, when cxpofed, they are feen immediately to col- 
led themfelves, the concluiion feems obvious, that they 
are pofleffed of organs fitted to dired them to their food. 
Thofe which feed on herbs, flowers, or fruits, feem in 
the fame manner to require fer.fes adequate to their pur- 
fuits. It has therefore been fuppofed, and not without 
an appearance of probability, that the palpi, or feelers, 
are the organs of fmell in the infed tribe. Thefe inftru- 
ments are four, fometimes fix in number ; two of which 
are evidently deftined to the purpofe of handling their 
food, and conveying it to the mouth. The others, which 
are in continual motion, and conftantly applied to thofe 
objeds 
* Geaera Infe&omm, ubi fupra, 
