I require my students to do a great deal of dissecting, which they enjoy very much and find very valuable. I would much rather that my boy would become interested in such study, than to have him possessor of infinite gold rings, or even a huge gold watch, with a tremendous charm. Let such pleasing recreation gain the attention of our boys, and they will ever contribute to our delight, and not sadden us with anxiety and fear. The antennæ (Fig. 6, _a, a_) are the horn-like jointed organs situated between or below and in front of the large compound eyes of all insects. They are sometimes short, as in the house-fly, and sometimes very long, as in the grasshoppers. They are either straight, curved or elbowed (Fig. 6). In form, too, they are very various, as thread-like, tapering, toothed, knobbed, fringed, feathered, etc. It is known that a nerve passes into the antennæ, but their exact function is little understood. That they serve as most delicate touch organs no apiarist can doubt. That they serve as organs of smell or hearing is not proved. That insects are conscious of sounds I think no observing person can doubt. It is proved by the call of the katy-did, the cicada and the cricket. What apiarist, too, has not noticed the effect of various sounds made by the bees upon their comrades of the hive. How contagious the sharp note of anger, the low hum of fear, and the pleasant tone of a new swarm as they commence to enter their new home. Now, whether insects take note of these vibrations, as we recognize pitch, or whether they just distinguish the tremor, I think no one knows. There is some reason to believe that their delicate touch-organs may enable them to discriminate between vibrations, even more acutely, than can we by use of our ears. A slight jar will quickly awaken a colony of hybrids, while a loud noise will pass unnoticed. If insects can appreciate with great delicacy the different vibratory conditions of the air by an excessive development of the sense of touch, then undoubtedly the antennæ may be great aids. Dr. Clemens thought that insects could only detect atmospheric vibrations. So, too, thought Linnæus and Bonnet. Siebold thinks, as the antennæ receive but one nerve, and are plainly touch-organs, they cannot be organs of hearing. Kirby has noticed that some moths turn their antennæ towards the direction from which noise proceeds, and thus argues that antennæ are organs of hearing. Grote, for a similar reason, thinks that the densely feathered antennæ of the males of various night moths, serve both for smell and hearing. Prof. A. M. Mayer and Mr. C. Johnson (see American Naturalist, vol. 8, p. 574) have by various ingenious experiments, proved conclusively, that the delicate, beautifully feathered antennæ of the male mosquito are organs of hearing. That insects have a very refined sense of smell is beyond question. How quickly the carrion-fly finds the carcass, the scavenger the filth, and the bee the precious nectar.