INSECTS' WIRELESS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 144, 21 June 1922, Page 5

INSECTS' WIRELESS

A GROWING IMPRESSION.

No sooner does any great scientist make a discovery than it generally has to be admitted,that Nature thought of it before. Nothing exists in the natural world that is entirely useless, although the exact purpose may not; always be clear. This is seen especially in the case of the antennae or feelers of insects, those strange organs which have puzzled scientists ever since the study of insect life has been pursued, which have been a subject of special study by Professor Crabbe. The weird uses to which these "arms" seem to be put have led to the conclusion that insects enjoy • the use of a kind of natural '-'wireless" far more delicate and more effective than our own. At one time it was thought that these quivering "feelers" were origans of hearing, and again, organs of smell or touch, but experiments have proved these ideas unsatisfactory. It was found that the explanation lay in the direction of a new sense, of which scientists know little. Professor Crabbe cites the common garden ant as a familiar instance of the important function of antennae. "These little creatures," he says, ''are Nature's engineers, and perform the useful service of breaking up and aerating the soil while carrying out their wonderful earthworks, Now, supposing a worker starts off from the nest in the morning and happens to find, say, a dead beetle that will provide meat for the household. She hurries back, and on the way meets another ant outward bound. The slightest touch of an antennae upon that of her friend is sufficient -to convey full particulars as to the place and nature of the plunder. The outgoing ant proceeds direct to the spot, and aids in the home-bringing, while ant No. 1 continues to summon others as she returns to headquarters. The news is clearly conveyed in o way superior to speech or dumb show, and it would be interesting to compare the comparatively clumsy behaviour of human beings in similar circumstances." The uses, of the antennae, however, by no means end here, a greater mystery still remaining to be solved. The "quivering" most certainly has reference to a power of reading, or sensing invisible wave vibrations in the air. By what means is the male moth acquainted with the fact that the female is asking for his attentions? It has lately been suggested that these insects communicate with one another by means of "wireless." It is said that they do this by means of electro-mag-netic waves of exceedingly short wave lengths. Well-established facts seem to lend colour to the suggestion. Probably the most sensitive organs that moths possess are their antennae. The antennae of the female, who is the transmitter, differs in pattern' from those of the male, who is the receiver. . This fact agrees with the design'of wireless instruments. Another curious point is the behaviour of the male as he nears the place where the female is stationed. Often he will alight in a very uncertain manner, moving his antennae' about much in the same, way that a wireless operator, will swing his direction-finding frame in order to discover the quarter from which the signals are coming. Professor Crabbe says that the female emperor moth, for instance, can, send a message with her simple , threadlike antennae that will be received by the finely feathered "feelers" of several ardent males, and lead the luckiest of them unerringly to her abode amid the heather on the moor. These males sometimes ..come from remarkable distances at her silent but certain^call.