Ants and Some Other Insects: An Inquiry Into the Psychic Powers of These AnimalsForel, Auguste
Science
Ants and Some Other Insects: An Inquiry Into the Psychic Powers of These Animals
Forel, Auguste
Insects -- Biology; Psychology, Comparative
N. B. The striation of the corpora pedunculata and their stems is
represented diagrammatically, for the purpose of indicating rather
coarsely their extremely delicate fibrillar structure.
The ocelli (simple eyes) play a subordinate rôle, and probably serve as
organs of sight for objects situated in the immediate vicinity and in
dark cavities.
* * * * *
The olfactory sense has its seat in the antennæ, usually in the
club-shaped flagellum, or rather in the pore-plates and olfactory
rods of these portions of the antennæ. On account of its external
and moveable position at the tip of the antenna, the olfactory organ
possesses two properties which are lacking in the vertebrates, and
particularly in man. These are:
1. The power of perceiving the chemical nature of a body by direct
contact (contact-odor);
2. The power of space-perception and of perceiving the form of objects
and that of the animal’s own trail by means of odor, and the additional
property of leaving associated memories.
The olfactory sense of insects, therefore, gives these animals definite
and clear-cut perceptions of space-relations, and enables the animal
while moving on the surface of the ground to orient itself with
facility. I have designated this sense, which is thus qualitatively, i.
e., in its specific energy, very different from our olfactory sense,
as the topochemical (olfactory) sense. Probably the pore-plates are
used for perceiving odor at a distance and the olfactory rods for
contact-odor, but this is pure conjecture. Extirpation of the antennæ
destroys the power of distinguishing friends from enemies and deprives
the ant of the faculty of orienting itself on the ground and of finding
its way, whereas it is possible to cut off three legs and an antenna
without seriously impairing these powers. The topochemical sense
always permits the ant to distinguish between the directions of its
trail, a faculty which Bethe attributes to a mysterious polarisation.
The ability to sense different odors varies enormously in different
insects. An object possessing odor for one species is often odorless
for other species (and for ourselves) and _vice versa_.
The gustatory organs are situated on the mouth-parts. Among insects the
reactions of this sense are very similar to our own. Will accustomed
some wasps to look in a particular place for honey, which he afterwards
mixed with quinine. The wasps detected the substance at once, made
gestures of disgust, and never returned to the honey. Mixing the honey
with alum had the same result. At first they returned, but after the
disagreeable gustatory experience they failed to reappear. Incidentally
this is also a proof of their gustatory memory and of their powers of
association.
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