I have reared female moths in my study, and have been greatly surprised on the day of their leaving their cocoons, to find my room swarming with males. These bridegrooms entered an open window in the second-story of a brick building. How delicate must have been the sense by which they were led to make the visit, and thus made to grace my cabinet. Bees, too, have been known to dash against a shutter behind which were flowers, thus showing the superiority of their perception of odors, as also their poor vision. But odors are carried by the air, and must reach the insect through this medium. Is it not probable, that the various breathing mouths of insects are also so many noses, and that their delicate lining membranes abounding with, nerve filaments, are the great odor sentinels? This view was maintained by both Lehman and Cuvier, and explains this delicate perception of scents, as the breathing mouths are large and numerous, and most so in insects like bees and moths, which are most sensitive to odors. How quickly the bees notice the scent of a strange bee or queen, or the peculiar odor of the venom. I have known a bee to sting a glove, and in a trice the glove would be as a pin-cushion, with stings in lieu of pins. Sometimes the bees will dart for many feet, guided by this odor. Yet the odor is very pungent, as I have frequently smelt the poison before I felt the sting. I have tried the experiments of Huber and Lubbock, and know that such insects as bees and ants will take no note of food after the loss of their antennæ. But we must remember that this is a capital operation. With loss of antennæ, insects lose control of their motions, and in many ways show great disturbance. Is it not probable then that removing the antennæ destroys the desire for food, as does amputation with ourselves? Kirby believes with Huber, that there is a scent organ. Huber's experiments on which he based this opinion are, as usual, very interesting. He presented a coarse hair dipped in oil of turpentine--a substance very repugnant to bees--to various parts of a bee engrossed in sipping honey. The bee made no objection, even though it touched the ligula, until it approached the mouth above the mentum, when she became much disturbed. He also filled a bee's mouth with paste, which soon hardened, after which the bee paid no heed to honey placed near it. This was not so conclusive, as the bee may have been so disturbed as to lose its appetite. I have experimented a good deal, and am inclined to the following opinion: The antennæ are very delicate touch-organs or feelers, and are so important in their function and connection that removal produces a severe shock, but further we know but little about their function, if they have other, and from the very nature of the problem we will find it very difficult of solution.