202 
ANTENNA. 
existing, than what are already known to us, are 
not to be despised. And he shows that insects 
| are, in various cases, sensible of the peculiar state 
| of the atmosphere. 
The bee, for example, sud- 
denly retreats to its dwelling on the approach of 
rain; ants,.on a threatening storm, withdraw 
their young from the surface of the earth; during 
a humid sky, musquitoes seek to harbour in our 
houses; and the nocturnal flight of beetles indi- 
cates the serenity of the weather. It is necessary 
that some organ should be susceptible of such 
impressions, when we reflect that a drop of rain 
will extinguish life, that unusual moisture will 
unfit the wings for use, and unusual heat endan- 
ger the fracture of the elytra; not forgetting 
either that only a slight degree of cold stiffens 
the limbs of insects, and reduces them to a state 
resembling death. But the whole surface of their 
bodies being covered with a strong and hard in- 
volucrum, renders it less sensible of the different 
transitions continually occurring in the atmo- 
sphere; while the softer substance, of which the 
antennee are composed, is better adapted to warn 
them of those conditions on which their safety 
depends. Therefore they are surely the organ 
best calculated to receive the impressions of the 
air, if any one is susceptible of external effects. 
The feathers, branches, hairs, and spines, so nu- 
| merously proceeding from the antenne, may all 
be devised to expose a greater surface, or some por- 
tion more acute in receiving impressions. Even 
the antennze of dead insects are injured by the 
humidity of the atmosphere. The melolontha, or 
cock-chafer, gradually unfolds its lamellated an- 
tennz, to try the state of the air, and never pre- 
viously attempts to take flight. On removing a 
butterfly sitting in the sun, with its antenne 
erect to the shade, it immediately begins stretch- 
| ing them out, as if to ascertain the change that 
has taken place. It is necessary that those of 
males and of neuters should be larger than those 
of females, because the former roving about more 
in quest of females, and the latter in executing 
their work, should sooner become aware of the 
approaching changes of the atmosphere. Leh- 
mann concludes on the whole, that, as the an- 
tennee are not the organs of either smell, hearing, 
or taste, their principal, though not sole office, is 
feeling. But they are also endowed with an un- 
known sense, which he denominates aeroscepsin ; 
and conjectures that, in certain species, they may 
contribute to the defence of the head. 
M. P. Huber looks on the antennee of ants as 
the means of imparting their mutual wants and 
necessities; and he seems to admit the aeroscep- 
sin of Lehmann, as also residing there. When 
_ two ants meet in their courses, they examine 
_ each other with the antennz: those which go 
abroad return full of a liquid aliment, which they 
disgorge into the mouths of those remaining at 
home. But the hunger of the domestic ant is 
intimated to the erratic one, by repeated alter- 
nate blows with the antennz; and intelligence 
ANTHER. 
that the latter has food to bestow, is, on its re- 
turn, reciprocally intimated by similar motions. 
M. Straus-Diirckheim rejects the opinion that 
the antennee are organs of touch, or ‘feelers’ as 
they are so commonly called; but conceives that 
they may serve for the perception of sounds. 
“The solidity of the envelop of antennz renders 
these organs well adapted to undergo the same 
vibrations as the air, in the same manner as the 
strings of an Alolian harp vibrate and emit vari- 
ous sounds according as they are differently struck 
by the air. In this view, however, we might infer 
that nature would have made antenne in the 
form of rods, consisting of a single piece, in order 
that they might be more susceptible of vibrations; 
but it ought to be considered, that these organs 
would, by such a conformation, have been much 
exposed to breaking, while, in consequence of 
their jointed form, they have the advantage of 
regulating the degree of vibration at pleasure, as 
may indeed be observed when insects listen with 
attention; I mean, that the joints of the anten- 
nee perform the same functions as the chain of 
smali bones in the chamber of the human ear, 
inasmuch as they form a similar chain, and trans- 
mit the vibrations of the air to the auditory 
pulp.”"—Lehmann de Fabrica Antennarum, 1799. 
—Lehmann de Usu Antennarum, 1800.—Latreille 
sur les Fourmis, 1802.—P. Huber Relations des 
Fourmis avec les Pucerons, et les Galle Insectes ; 
Francis Huber’s New Observations on the Natural 
History of Bees, 1808.—Marsham on the Ichneumon 
Inwestigator in Transactions of the Linnean Society, 
vol, i.; Airby Monographia apum Anglie, 1802. 
—Ciuvres de Bonnet, tom, vii. in 8vo.; Baster 
Opuscula Subseciva, part 1i—M. Straus-Durckheim 
on the Anatomy of the Cock-chafer, as quoted in the 
Penny Magazine, article ANTENN®. 
ANTENNARIA. A genus of herbaceous 
plants, of the composite order. 
allied to the genus Gnaphalium or everlasting, 
and indeed are botanically founded on the best | 
known or most common species of everlasting, | 
the Gnaphalium margaritaceum of Linneeus. Two 
species are indigenous in England; and six other 
species have been introduced from continental 
Europe, Africa, Nepaul, and North America. One 
of the indigenous species, Antennaria dioica, grows 
about three inches high, and carries a pink flower 
from May till July; and the other, Antennaria mar- 
garitacea, grows 14 foot high, and carries a yel- 
low flower from July till September. 
these species are perennial. The name antennaria 
alludes to the fancied resemblance of a part of 
the fructification to the antennee of insects. 
ANTHER. The minute bag or viscus, which — 
contains the pollen or fine fecundating powder 
of a flower. In most plants, it is situated, in a 
terminal manner, at the top or upper end of a 
filament; but in some, it is differently situated. 
Its chief feature of interest to an unbotanical 
cultivator is connected with the pollen. See 
PouuEN. . | 
They are closely | 
Both of 
